No panic for plucky Moor

MOOR entertained Orrell at Green Lane last Saturday, the first time they have hosted the ‘Anvils’ in over 40 years.

Moor had already beaten them twice this season at their ground, the first in a county knockout competition and the second in a league game, but on both occasions the victories had been narrow ones, so expectations were for another close game.

Early exchanges favoured Moor as play was confined almost entirely to the opposition’s half, but good defence kept them out. Eventually, Orrell wrested control and from a lineout and repeated phases of play, the ball was passed along the back line, for their right winger to cross for a try out wide, which was converted from the touchline.

Within minutes, the visitors had extended their lead, produced from almost an identical set of moves as the first score; lineout, pick and drives and then back play, but this time a forward was on hand to finish off with an unconverted try.

With less than a quarter of the match gone, Moor found themselves 12-0 down, but to their credit, they did not panic and gradually built a platform which resulted in 38 unanswered points.

They opened their account from a series of drives by their forwards, with flanker Kingsley Child touching down; the conversion being narrowly missed by his younger brother, captain and scrum-half Danny Child. Following this score, Child senior had to leave the field with an injury to be replaced by Bryn Jones and it was the latter who scored Moor’s second try, again from excellent forward play and again the conversion was missed.

Moor then took the lead in injury time at the break when full-back Matt Hughes joined the back line at pace and jinked his way over for a try, which was converted by fly-half Pat Chatterton.

Moor maintained their domination from the restart and shortly afterwards this pressure resulted in the visitors giving away a series of penalties and ended up with one of their forwards being sinbinned.

Unsurprisingly, Moor elected to take a scrum following this final indiscretion and with the opposition on the back foot, the ball was quickly spun down the line for winger Olly Reynolds to cross the whitewash, but in doing so, he was adjudged to have been subject to a high tackle and the referee immediately awarded a penalty try, thus ensuring Moor a bonus point.

The home side continued to take full advantage.

Even when Orrell had returned to a full complement, Moor continued to press and their final try of the afternoon was perhaps their best of the game. This came from turnover ball at an Orrell scrum and the ball was moved first one way along the back line and then switched in the other direction, with both forwards and backs involved in the move, resulting in winger David Adebo diving in at the corner, with another splendid conversion from Chatterton.

With 10 minutes remaining and the game well and truly in the bag, coach Mark Edwards took the opportunity to ‘blood’ two more 17-year-olds as replacements, scrum-half Dom Rafferty and winger Joe Kilbride, both of whom showed excellent touches.

In this final period, Moor had No. 8 Ben Jones yellow-carded for an adjudged dangerous tackle and deep into injury time, it was the opposition’s turn to make use of the extra player, when from a tap penalty deep in Moor’s 22 they outstripped the defence for a converted try.

This proved to be the last play of the game, with the final whistle resulting in a 38-19 victory to Moor. »»Moor take a break from league rugby next Saturday, but resume on April 7th with an away trip to Wigan, k.o. 3pm.