‘His Boots are so Bright! You Gotta Wear Shades!’

With the first early autumn kickoff of the season Bowdon looked to get their season back on track after 2 defeats on the trot. With a late Referee and Wallasey suffering transport problems, resulting in a 40 minute delay to kick off, there was a possibility of failing light at the end of the game. Luckily for all concerned Mark Wells Decided today was the day to bring out his new Luminous green boots, ensuring that sunlight alone wasn’t necessary for the game to be completed. In fact the Kryptonite coloured boots turned out to be a stroke of genius on Marks behalf turning him into a 4 try superhero on his way to a man of the match performance.

The game itself was somewhat controlled by the gale force wind blowing across the pitch, making handling at times difficult for both teams. Straight from the kick off Bowdon wanted to put the last two performances behind them and re-start their season. This was clearly shown on 5 minutes when Darius took the direct approach and bulldozed a couple of Wallasey players out of the way as he drove over the try line for the first score. Bo’s advantage was doubled 5 minutes later with some good interplay gave Mark Wells some space out wide on the left to show a clean pair of day-glow heals and score out wide on the left hand side.

Wallasey looked like they didn’t know what had hit them, but Bowdon looked like they weren’t for letting up. On 15 minutes again good interplay between backs and forwards resulted in a maul 5 meters out Bo’ powering over the line with Martin Gallagher the last man up with ball in hand. The wind and a dodgy kicking tee giving Jack a 3 out or 3 kick rate - unfortunately all misses!

The home crowd - or rather those foolish enough to brave the winds and soon approaching rain - were now looking forward to an emphatic victory. On the park the players looked like they thought their day was done and Bowdon took the foot off the gas! This allowed Wallasey to think they were back in the game. Bowdon started to give away some silly penalties around the middle of the park. The visitors stand-off fancied his chances, with a bit of wind assistance, and took several pots at the posts - 2 off which were successful. For the rest of the half Bowdon seemed content to play rugby between the 22’s without either side threatening the try lines.

Words were obviously spoken by the coaches at half time as Bowdon’s intensity and passion seemed to return. Within a minute of the re-start the high-vis boots flashed over the whitewash for a second time following on from great team work by both backs and forwards. Bowdon looked like they meant business! 10 minutes later and Mark had completed his Hat-trick this time the Kryptonite infused boots allowed Mark to dazzle the opposition - running through a couple of tackles to again score in the corner. Lucky for the crowd Mark was wearing his underpants under his shorts and not over in true superhero fashion!

Bowdon were now in full flow and looking dangerous whenever the ball was in hand - and passes went to hand! On 65 minutes Neil Bright took the ball just outside the Wallasey 22’ and decided on the direct approach running straight for the try line. On the way to scoring he bounced a couple of Wallasey player who got in his way. Jack Rees faring better with a crack at the extra point from almost in front of the posts.

With the wind not letting up this hindered Bowdon, several chances of further scoring going begging due to poor handling - or should that be catching. It wouldn’t be fair to single out any particular individual for their passing/ handling skills – but for some it was awful - to be FRANK! :o) Ok if I must mention just one, this must go to Ben Sutherland for juggling after it looked like he had control of the ball - empty pitch in front of him and several players outside! Luckily for Ben the Dick of the Day award had already been won by another un-named Director of Rugby!

Back to the game! The final try for Bo’ was the pick of the bunch! Evaldas picked up the ball midway in the home half and he decided to have a run. With the cries of “Run ‘Valdas, Run!” ringing in his ears he ran though a number of tackles, dodged round several more, came back to evade some more before being caught 2 yards from the line - only to pop the ball to the only support player anywhere near . It must have been his super senses on the day that made him run up the wing 60 yards for the final pop - but it worked - Mark scoring his 4th try of the day!

Overall a great win to get the team back on track - with the weather hampering what could have been a more emphatic victory! Man of the Match was the 4 try superhero Mark Wells - although his super powers didn’t extend to the downing of his yard!