Under 14

Sandbach 7 - Altrincham 42 Sun 26 September 99 A strong Altrincham Kersal team were the visitors to Bradwall Road on Sunday 26/9/99. Although this was the first game of the season for both teams it was a strongly contested match with crunching tackles being seen all over the pitch. Sandbach were fielding an entirely new formation partly due to absence of some personnel and partly due to a tactical decision to switch Jason Ashwin & Matthew Walton from the forwards to form a new centre pairing. Oliver Lawrence at loose head was making his debut for the club but had a solid start. Mike Huss and Tom Kernan were both in unfamiliar territory at flanker, and Stewart McCracken - who had not played for a year - formed a new second row partnership with Dan Faulkner. Altrincham opened the scoring after only one minute with a breakaway but unconverted try. Sandbach rallied but a further breakaway caught them after 10 minutes. In points terms it was one way traffic during the first half but this denied the full strory as Sandbach were competing well but finding it difficult to retain possession. A good run and pass by Mike Huss found Andy Rollings wide on the left but although Rollings rounded the full back and looked set for a try a fine tackle by Altrincham's covering player stopped him in his tracks. At half time Sandbach found themselves down by 27 points. Sandbach's new style front eight had taken some while to get themselves into the game but as the match wore on they became more competitive. The second half saw Sandbach raise their game and although Altrincham added another three tries Sandbach failed to roll over and got their just deserves when Mike Huss broke down the left. Good support initially from Tom Kiernan and then Matthew Walton set up Jason Ashwin for one of his typical tries. Andy Rollings duly converted from in front of the posts. Matthew Walton & Jason Ashwin were in fine form in the centre and if they and the rest of the backs had received more possession the story could well have been diffierent. The final score was a little flattering to the visitors whose forwards admittedly dominated the front game but who consistently had difficulties coping with Sandbach's fast running backs. Sandbach - Lawrence, Henry, Gooch, Faulkner, McCracken, Kiernan, Huss, Graveney, Hodgkinson, Greenhalgh, Ashwin, Walton, Rollings, Eyers, Blatherwick.