On a cold, crisp morning ideal for open rugby Sandbach travelled to Northwich for the first round of the Cheshire Cup. On the first team pitch in front of the large and very noisy crowd Sandbach kicked off. After a scrappy start the first attack came from Northwich, Sandbach’s first attack came from a great take from Alex in the line which released the backs.
The first try went to Northwich, after a penalty at the scrum. A quick ball went along the line which was scored in the corner and converted. After some concerted pressure by Northwich a penalty was awarded to Sandbach. The backs passed the ball along the line to Daniel Partington who scored and Kyran Davies converted. The game was being played in the mid field with both sets of forwards battling hard. An attacking scrum from Sandbach was quickly passed out to Kyran Davies who jinked his way to the line only to be stopped just short. Matthew Hopton picked up the ball and drove over to score, Kyran Davies converted. From the restart good pressure from Northwich resulted in a second Northwich try. Just before half time Northwich scored a third try after some powerful forward play.
H.T.21-14
From the restart Sandbach set up a solid maul allowing Jimmy Bebbington to steam over and Kyran Davies converted. Sandbach now looked a different side as the ever improving forwards set up some fantastic second and third phase ball for the backs which allowed Daniel Jakemann to float past three defenders to score again, Kyran Davies converted. With the Sandbach pack now firmly on top Luke Graveson powered over for a score with at least three Northwich players on his back, Kyran Davies converted. As the game neared its climax both set of players gave fantastic effort both in defence and attack but no scores came. At the final whistle two exhausted teams had given everything and had contributed to great game of rugby.
Players of the Week:
· Jimmy Bebbington
· Luke Graveson
· Matthew Murray
· Daniel Jakemann