The Clay Lane Conundrum!

Saturday saw perfect conditions for a great game of open rugby, a noisy crowd including almost a full team of crocked players all looking forward to a great game. After last week’s lacklustre defeat in St Helens all the home support and coaches were looking hopefully for a performance that the opening two games had given glimpses off.

From the kick off the initial showing was very promising! With Bowdon going forward Jon Thomas made a great break, eventually being hauled down 10 yards from the Hoylake line. All was looking good and the crowd were behind the team. From the ensuing ruck, with Bo’ ready to strike first blood, out shot the ball in the hands of someone in Green and Red! The dash for the line was a long one! For Hoylake the leg race was fruitful with a converted try the result from what was a promising Bowdon start! Seven nil down with barely 3 minutes on the clock!

The home side looked bewildered! A look that was to be seen throughout what was going to be a long afternoon! The re-start saw Bowdon looking to put things right - but things were not quite right. Bowdon were firing on only half their cylinders - Occasionally stalling altogether before restarting with a bang! Just past the Quarter of an hour a line out, 30 meters out, was expertly taken by Neil Bright. The ball was swung out to the backs quickly. Swets made the first break, Smashing through the Hoylake line before passing the ball on to Mitch McGrath who again smashed through the second line of defence passing to Alex Hartley on the Wing who pinned back his ears and crossed the white wash for an unconverted try.

The side lines were now hoping that this would kick start the home side into the performance that they all know is there just waiting to burst out! Six minutes later the signs were very promising Alex Hartley again getting the ball in some space, this time getting caught 5 meters out. Quick ball from the ensuing ruck set Swets off bulldozing over the line near the posts for a quality try, giving Swets an easier kick than before. The clay lane faithful were now licking their lips for a good home performance. Sadly this was not to be! The rest of the half was lots of puff without much quality output from both teams.

The second half kicked off with an improvement in performance, unfortunately the improvement was from the visitors. Four minutes in and pressure from Hoylake was rewarded with 5 points when their No. 8 went over for a try, helped by some lacklustre home tackling! The visitors then took the lead on fifty minutes when a kick out of defence by Bowdon was collected 30 yards out, the player in green and red went on a run! He ran and ran - with some nifty footwork Michael Jackson would be proud off. For the away fans it was a thriller, for the home fans it was a nightmare. Several missed tackles latter and the ball was put down between the posts giving Hoylake a seven point lead.

Bowdon were now fully at odds - the conundrum being why so many moments of individual brilliance - with an equal number of moments of mediocrity! Several players made great charges at the Hoylake defence smashing through several would be tacklers, notably both Mitch McGrath and Jonny Thomas. Even Neil Collinge had a couple of bulldozing runs making good yardage. But for every yard going forward won, one was given back by poor tackling or poor rucking - or silly penalties given away.

Time was now running out for the home site and things became even more frantic! Desperation was setting in and Bo’ were staring a home defeat in the face! With 5 minutes to go Hoylake were reduced to 14 men when their centre was shown a yellow for a deliberate knock on when attempting to latch onto a pass out to the Bowdon wing.

The extra man wasn’t really showing! With Hoylake standing up to all that Bowdon was chucking at them! In the dying seconds, from the middle of the park Bowdon spun the ball wide, Jonny Thomas gathered the ball in a bit of space and made the dash for the line from 30 yards out, having enough composure to cross the line then make a bee line for the posts to give Swets an easier kick! As the conversion sailed high over the cross bar the ref Blew for full time. The final act giving Bowdon a share of the spoils!

For the coaches - much to work on, and several questions to be answered! How can we get some consistency in our performances? How do we get the team to fire on all cylinders? How do we convert moments of individual brilliance into a brilliant team performance! At least the spirit is there it just needs the spark to fire it!! Next week sees the tough trip to Glossop for the firsts, with the Clay Lane faithful hoping the spark is there!