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Under 11's finalists at Cheshire Cup |
Sandbach Under 12's & 14's are not the only Sandbach teams to have made it to their respective final of the Cheshire Cup this season as Sandbach Under 11's also reached the final at a wet and cold Under 11's tournament at Chester last Sunday (22 April 2001)
In the preliminary rounds, the Sandbach lads played some strong attacking rugby against Stockport with good support play and some fine flowing passing moves from the backs. Tries from Gareth Marshall and Tim Jervis were both converted by Matt Smith, to ensure a 14-7 victory, but the pressure that Sandbach put on the opposition should really have resulted in more scores.
Against a weakened Congleton side, the backs again held sway with Andy Marrow and Matt Smith scoring tries to win 12-0. However, the team failed to play to their full potential and didn't convert their possession into points.
In the semi-final, we were drawn against a much fancied Chester side. The game was very tight with both sets of backs cancelling each other, and the forwards were left to slog it out in rapidly worsening conditions. Sandbach concentration lapsed, and we conceded a breakaway try from the opposition full-back aided by some very poor covering and tackling.
As the second half opened, so did the heavens. Playing with the wind at their back, Sandbach attacked and probed and were finally rewarded when Andy Marrow was released on the left wing. He cut inside, beating three men to score near the corner. With only a minute or so left, and under no small amount of pressure, Matt Smith duly converted the try to level the scores.
After sudden-death extra-time, the scores remained level, so the tie was decided on the toss of a coin. Matt Smith called tails................and won! We were in the final.
Against Macclesfield, I'm afraid we under-performed again. Macc had a good set of fast backs, and by exploiting the width of the pitch to it's full, they quickly ran in a couple of first half tries. Drained by their exploits in the semi's, and making hard work of the heavy conditions, the lads heads went down. The second half was better, but Macc scored another breakaway try to seal the result at 21-0.
In the 3rd/4th place play-off, Lymm beat Chester 14-7 after extra time.
So, all in all, the better side won on the day, but the Sandbach lads must be congratulated on their efforts in difficult conditions. Well done!
Results.
Sandbach 14 - Stockport 7
Sandbach 12 - Congleton 0
Sandbach 7 - Chester 7 (aet, Sandbach through on toss of a coin)
Sandbach 0 - Macclesfield 21
Scorers
Tries: Andy Marrow (2), Gareth Marshall, Tim Jervis, Matt Smith
Conversions: Matt Smith (4)
Squad:
Dan Brough, Tim Jervis, Jack Leech, Andy Marrow, Gareth Marshall, Dominic Moss, Chris Plumb, Matt Pollen, Patrick Sherratt, Rob Small, Matt Smith, Mike Taylor, Ryan Thomas, Tom Whalley.
Tim Smith
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