Under 14

Wrexham 27 - Sandbach 31 Sun 24 October 99 Although reduced to only 14 men due to the half term holidays Sandbach put up an excellent performance to beat their Welsh hosts on Sunday 24 October. Playing with only seven in their pack Sandbach were always second best in the scrum - their front five of Lawrence, Henry, Wilson, Falukner & Wagstaff were put under immense pressure in the set scrum but held on well. Good play in the loose from all the forwards (Flankers Gooch & Keirnan getting everywhere) and superb inter play between forwards and backs orchestrated by scrum half Tom Hodgkinson & stand off Chris Greenhalgh saw Sandbach through in what turned out in the end to be a very close contest. In the first half Sandbach's backs were dominant with the result that Sandbach put 14 points onto the scoreboard before reply. Centres Ashwin & Walton attacked and defended like men possessed. Mike Eyers at full back had a particularly fine game - he cleared up everything kicked his way and started some fine counter attacking moves. Wingers Huss & Rollings were brought into the game time and time again as Sandbach used the full width of the pitch with classy handling moves executed with no regard for the adverse weather conditions. Sandbach's first try came after only 7 minutes when a fine move was finished off excellently by winger Mike Huss and converted for the extra two points by Andy Rollings. Rollings himself got the second with a weaving run from the left wing which was converted by stand off Chris Greenhalgh. Wrexham pulled back a try (unconverted) but two further tries from Rollings again and flanker Tom Kiernan (both of which went unconverted) saw Sandbach to a commanding 24-5 lead at half time. Playing uphill in the second half Sandbach found it harder going. Wrexham's stronger pack began to win better ball but an early penalty from the five metre line wide on the right saw pack leader Dan Faulkner score a classic forward try for Sandbach. Faulkner took the ball at pace and headed directly for the Wrexham defence. Three opponents tried in vain to block him but Faulkner was not to be stopped and with a clever body twist scored right in the corner. This left Andy Rollings with a very difficult kick from right on the touchline but the Sandbach winger converted the try with a superb kick that was helped over by the crossbar. With the score at 31-5 Sandbach looked to be cruising to a win but Wrexham responded well and with a sequence of four tries (only one converted) were suddenly pressing their visitors. Despite being physically very tired the 14 man Sandbach team held on until the final whistle for a justified victory. Sandbach - Lawrence, Henry, Wilson, Faulkner, Wagstaff, Gooch, Kiernan, Hodgkinson, Greenhalgh, Ashwin, Walton, Rollings, Huss, Eyers