~2008-11-15 Halbro Shield
Liverpool St Helens 3rd 5 v 15 Heaton Moor 3rd
LSH, following an unexpected weekend off, went into this second round cup encounter in a confident mood. Despite the enforced absence of Ste Hovvels in the front row due to a minor heart attack (presumably it was his round) and regular half-backs Knowles and Dillon, the previously unbeaten Moss Laners still reckoned they would have too much firepower for a team who had won just 3 games out of 9 in Miller Homes League 4 South. A presumption that would cost them dear.
Due to the absences mentioned above, Dave 'Turkish' Pickavance returned to claim a spot in the front row, Phil 'Veivers' Henry made a return to the scrum half berth and John Riley stepped in at fly-half. Because of the difference in stature between Riley and regular no 10 Dillon, the shirt was dispensed with and Riley had the club colours applied directly to his skin.
Within 2 minutes of the kick off, LSH realised this was not to be the walk in the park they envisaged. The visitors well-organised defence combined with the slippery conditions and narrow pitch led to something of a stalemate which was only broken when an infraction at a ruck presented the visitors with a chance to get the first points on the board. The Heaton Moor scrum-half duly slotted it between the sticks to make the score 3-0 to the visitors.
LSH seemed to up their work-rate at this point and some excellent close range drives from Pickavance, Williams and Henry the Elder gained plenty of territory and when the visitors came in from the side of a ruck in the Heaton Moor 22, the referee awarded LSH a chance to level the scores. Unfortunately, the slippery conditions hindered stand-in goal-kicker Roberts and he pushed it wide.
Further opportunities were frequently squandered with careless turnovers by the home side but LSH then caught a break in rather farcical circumstances. A skewed kick in open play came to rest behind the visitor's line, whereupon it was collected by the scrum-half. The ball had apparently gone dead but as there was no whistle to be heard, the Heaton Moor man was tackled beneath his own posts and from the resulting turnover, the ball was shipped to Dr Jones who was able to shove his way over the line from close range. The conversion was missed and the half time score would be 5-3 to LSH.
The second half unfolded in a similar manner to the first with few scoring opportunities and it transpired this grinding game, in what had become a total mudbath, would be won by the team with the most desire and commitment. And so it proved to be. With about 15 minutes of the game remaining, the visitors finally bashed through the home defence for a score near the corner. The conversion was missed but the visitors now held the lead at 8-5.
The Moss Laners gave their utmost but could not get a further score on the board and when the visitors took a quick line-out in the LSH 22 to crash over the whitewash again, the game was up. The successful touchline conversion rubbed salt into the wound and with the scores at 15-5, both sides realised the result was beyond doubt before the referee called the game to a close soon after.
Moreover there were further injury concerns for LSH when full-back Holland took another knock to his fragile bones and hobbled off after approximately 60 minutes, and also Henry the Younger, whose face resembled a bag of assorted drill bits at the full-time whistle.
Mentioned in despatches this week are Ged Williams for excellent graft at the back of an increasingly unstable scrum and Phil Henry who impressed many with his Scrappy-Doo style of scrum-half play.
Consequently, with their cup run prematurely ended, LSH will be focusing solely on their quest for the league starting with their trip to Winnington Park next week. So, in the words of Heavy Metal leviathans Metallica, "Nothing else matters."
P.S. Apologies for the lack of gags this week. The author was too depressed to think any up.
Man of the Match chosen by LSH and Match Official - Philip Henry
Man of the Match chosen by Heaton Moor - Ben Holland (?!?)
Report by E. Hemingway.
