Not what the doctor ordered - A Tough Pill to swallow

The absences did however give opportunity for several players to make their 1st XV debuts including new signing Tom Saliba at fly half and wing Ben Cornelious.

Tom is a Manchester born Ex Sale FC player who has international colours having represented Lebanon in RWC qualifiers and joins us having returned to the North West from London. Ben is a student at Manchester Uni and continues the excellent links we have with the Uni. Lewis Kitchiner was also rewarded after his performance off the bench last week by getting his first start of the season.

LSH, also named a strong squad with a few of their main players returning to the starting line up but nevertheless Bowdon were up for it, the changing room buzzing off the back of last week’s win but extremely focused on the game ahead. It was an exciting feel around Clay Lane, bouncy castles set up, bbq rumbling ahead and the bar filling up with members and supporters and better yet, the rain had held off.

Unfortunately LSH hadn’t read the script for the day and within minutes of the start were across the line, catching Bowdon asleep to take a 7-0 lead. The opening score led to a 20 minutes spell where Bowdon were constantly under pressure and struggling to stitch something together as the team were simply caught on the back foot. The constant LSH pressure told and on the stroke of the 20th minute they capitalised going over the line and converting to stretch the lead to 14-0.

This finally seemed to stir Bowdon into life and with Evans and Cornelious managing to secure the ball direct from the restart the boys started to string some strong and impacting phases together forcing LSH into frantically defending their 5m line.

As the pressure built a high tackle came in on Bowdon No.9 Calvert as he was about to score leaving the Ref with no choice than to blow for a penalty try. Under the new laws an automatic 7 points with no need for the conversion to be added. Bowdon back in the game at 14-7.

The game then entered a period with the ball not reaching the backs as both sets of forwards sought dominance and the sides cancelled each other out. There would certainly have been a few sore bodies on Sunday, with a few stand out breaks and tackles by No.5 Tom Gumulko, No.3 Craig Anthony and Captain Neil Bright. The deadlock was broken after a frustrating few minutes for both sides when a disputed high tackle on No.13 Dafydd Evans was missed by the ref, and led to a few handbags. LSH manage to take advantage of the disruption to quickly start up play and immediately find a gap and run it in under the posts to take the half time score to 21-7 in favour of the visitors.

Half Time – 21 – 7, Liverpool St Helens lead.

A few changes at half time with Kitchiner and Calvert off and Rimmer and Hares on and with the team fired up after a few words off Head Coach Dave Murray you could sense that they were looking for an early break and get some points back on the board as they came out flying for the second half. However, LSH had again not got the memo and quickly grabbed the game by the scruff of the neck with some quick ball through hands exposing the smallest of space on the outside to catch Bowdon on the back foot again.

Despite the now commanding lead the game showed no sign of slowing with both sides going at it hell for leather with big hits everywhere with play only taking a small stop as No.3 Craig Anthony went down injured, nothing to serious we hope but was replaced by Kitchiner.

Shortly after and following a neat nudge from Saliba a dominant Bowdon lineout secured the ball to allow No.8 Michael Waddington to cross the line and close the gap. Conversion missed. 26-12.

Straight back underway but not until Bowdon made a quick change with Craig Mason coming on to assist the pack with some fresh legs and immediately folding someone in a tackle, this followed by a great hit from Barker on another one of the LSH pack, and possession was back in Bowdon’s hands. With the ball transferred quickly out to the backline No.15 Liam Connolly was hit with a high tackle and play immediately stopped. Thankfully he was back on his feet within a minute, groggy but okay.

With the ball still under Bowdon possession another successful lineout and strong play immediately earns a penalty 5m out. Hungry for points and in a bid to replicate their earlier try Bowdon opt for a scrum. Hoping to get over the line to get back in the game Bowdon are frustrated as the scrum collapses. Another scrum and the same thing happens again, the wet ground just doesn’t seem to want to get the game going as it heads towards the final play. At the third time of asking the scrum is successfully completed although on this occasion the Bowdon pack is pushed back to lose possession to bring the game to a disappointing end. A win and bonus point for LSH.

A tough pill to swallow and certainly not the performance expected after last weeks start but we will look to learn, build and move on.

It is also worth congratulating Chris Calvert on being selected for the Sale Jet’s in the Aviva Premiership A League fixture on Monday night. Well Done Chris.

The team was as follows:
1. Lewis Kitchiner
2. Dave Barker
3. Craig Anthony
4. Neil Bright
5. Tom Gomulko
6. Jamie Frost
7. Dan Billenge
8. Michael Waddington
9. Chris Calvert
10. Tom Saliba
11. Ben Cornelious
12. Andre Hechter
13. Dafydd Evans
14. Ben Oben
15. Liam Hargreaves Connolly
16. Josh Rimmer
17. Craig CM
18. Chris Hares

Match report provided by Craig Monaghan