Three in a row for Moor

MOOR collected their third bonus-point win in a row with a home victory against Ruskin Park, which was the first of this season’s reverse fixtures and meant that they had completed the double over the St. Helensbased side.

The visitors kickedoff and immediately put the home side under pressure and after only 3 minutes, had opened the scoring with a well-worked try, involving a long pass to their speedy left winger, who easily sped pass the Moor defence, to score in the corner, the try being converted from the touchline.

This setback to Moor did not last long, as from the kick-off, it was their turn to apply pressure, forcing the opposition to concede two penalties in quick succession, both being kicked by fly-half Mark Edwards, as he continued his current run of fine form with the boot.

Moor continued to dominate both set and loose play and Ruskin added to their problems when they had a man sin-binned, which the home side took full advantage of to score two converted tries.

The first was by Edwards as he jinked in near to the posts following a pass from a ruck, whilst captain and No.8, Ben Jones, made the second touchdown when he picked up from the base of a scrum to drive over; both conversions being made Edwards. With Ruskin returned to a full compliment of players, they began to cause Moor a few problems, but faced a further reverse whilst attacking on the home side’s 22-metre line.

A loose pass along their back line was intercepted by the ever-alert inside centre, Chris Ogden-Smith, who, following a brief juggling exercise, raced 80 metres to score by the posts, with Edwards completing the simplest of conversions. A further penalty kick from their fly-half meant that Moor approached half-time with a comfortable lead. The opposition did have the last say however, as in injury time, they made their own interception to score wide out, which was excellently converted from the touchline.

This proved to be their last score of the game, as the interval whistle blew with Moor leading 30-14.

From the restart, Moor continued to dominate proceedings and after only a minute, Edwards put through a delicate grubber kick, which full-back Matt Hughes collected and scored. The referee, who had a good game on his visit from the Warwickshire Society, disallowed the try however, as he adjudged that Hughes had been marginally offside.

But the home side were not to be denied for too long as a couple of minutes later, the ball was quickly recycled down their three-quarter line to right-winger David Adebo, making his first appearance of the season, who accelerated away from some 45 metres out to score Moor’s fourth, and bonus-point, try; the conversion rebounding off the upright.

This domination continued when another converted try and perhaps the best-worked of the afternoon, from outside centre Tom Ireland, kept the scoreboard ticking over. Ruskin’s woes deepened with a second yellow card midway through the half and from the resulting penalty, Moor kicked to touch. The lineout was duly won and following a rolling maul, evergreen-prop Joe James, broke down the blindside to force his way over. With five minutes to go, the opposition were again penalised short of their line and Moor elected to take a scrum, which, unsurprisingly, was won and the inevitable pushover was scored by Jones. With the light rapidly fading, the referee blew the final whistle with Moor recording their best score of the season, 52-14.

Next week, Moor will have to be in top form as they play away at third-placed Tyldesley.