Firsts Keep the Dream Alive!

Saturday saw the re-arranged fixture between Manchester Medics and Bowdon, The first game being curtailed two weeks ago at half time when the Ref was KO’d by a JB Clearance from a ruck! Luckily this week the ref kept out his way and Bowdon capitalised to keep league and promotion dreams alive!

The heavy underfoot conditions favoured the travelling Bowdon team more than the youthful Medics, who would have preferred the dry sunny conditions of the early season encounter between the teams.

From the kick off it was clear to see that Bowdon were in the mood for a hard game in the testing ground conditions. Early Bowdon pressure told when on three minutes John Blackwell strolled through the Medics defence after a scrum 10 yards from their line. Mike Swetman adding an easy extra two points. Bowdon’s scrum was very strong all afternoon, giving the backs good ball with forward momentum on their put in and putting pressure on the Medics on their put in. The front row of Ryan Getley, Harry Booth and Danny Marshall were causing all sorts of problems to their counterparts all day. With the Medics loose head struggling to keep his head down.

Tackling from both sides was fierce with big hits going in all over the park. One of the first saw winger Phil Gare cutting the big Medics second Row in half when he was in full stride midway through the half. Big hits were the order of the day with several throughout the game - from the side lines it seems the BOOM’s only go louder as the game went on. The first half was a tight affair with most of the game played in the middle of the park, Medics using the wind at their back to kick Bowdon back down the park whenever Bo’ got into the home sides 22.

With 3 minutes to go in the half, possibly the defining moment of the game came when John Blackwell popped up, out of nowhere, wide on the left for a try saving tackle on the Medics winger who looked like scoring after beating 2 Bowdon players. This showed that the Bowdon players would run through brick walls to keep in front of the Medics. From the resulting scrum Bowdon played up the park, after several phases of play Bowdon stole into the Medics half, allowing Mike Swetman to put over a Drop Kick from the Medics’ 10 meter line with the last play of the half.

The second half was similar to the first with hard tackling from both teams, Bowdon having the better at the scrums and looking the more potent in attack. Midway through the half from a ruck just inside the Medics’ half Bowdon spun the ball our right, great handling from both forwards and backs saw Bo’ break into the 22. Another ruck saw a quick ball spin out left, again great hands had the ball quickly move to Swetman who burst through the defensive line to score wide on the left. The conversion being added to give Bowdon a 17 to nil lead.

Throughout the second half the tackles were flying in from all over the park. Both Forwards and Back pinning The medics back. Several more big hits came in from Swetman, Ditchfield and almost every other Bowdon player. The biggest of all was from the coach Thiu – leading the way - halving the opposition number 8 as soon as the ball touched his hands. The noise of the contact was audible to all on the sideline.

With 5 minutes to go the Medics gave themselves some hope with a well take try, the standoff bursting through the Bowdon defensive line to run in from the 22. Bowdon snuffed out any thought of the medics making a comeback by upping the tackling and ensuring that the home side were pinned back or made little ground without being hit by another Bowdon player tackling hard. The final points of the day came after wonderful Bowdon forward play as they marched up the park, releasing the backs, with Kane Ditchfield scoring to the left of the posts. Swetman again converting to give a final score of:

Man of the Match could have been any one of the 18 players on the day! The front row gets a special mention. But the coaches eventually gave the award to Darius for his tireless work and bulldozing charges. Dick of the Day (not that there really was one - be he is good in a boat race!) went to Mark Wells for knocking on after a great run down the left wing only being stopped a few meters short!

Although in 4th place in the league, with a game in hand and still to play two of the teams above them Bowdon’s promotion hopes now lie squarely in our own hands.