Carnforth Breakdown Clitheroe

Clitheroe travelled up the M6 to face Carnforth with a much changed squad after illness and injury made some enforced changes to the pack – with Chamberlain moving to No8 and a new flanker pairing of Kino and Sam Thornber, and with the 2nd Team game called off late – there were some extra recruits to the bench in bulky shape of Dowson and Wilkinson.
The game got off to the worse start possible, with Carnforth playing on the local high school grounds, the pitch has more lines than Keith Richards’ face – this caused confusion as Clitheroe thought they had touched down a Carnforth kick only for a sharp thinking home team player to pick the ball and dot down for what was frankly an absurd score. Carnforth went in again shortly after with a quickly taken tap penalty and with 6 minutes gone Clitheroe were already down 10 points. The barking tones of skipper Dave Watson at last woke Maroon and Gold from their early afternoon siesta and the forwards knuckled down to make the hard yards. Leading the charge into the Carnforth half, great pressure resulted in a penalty which Fitzhenry converted to claw back 3 points. A transgression after the restart gave Carnforth the chance to reaffirm the 10 point margin, which they duly took, 13 – 3.
Clitheroe’s mauling seemed to be giving their hosts real problems and the forwards marched up the pitch on a number of occasions gaining good ground, however the Clitheroe ruck seemed to be struggling with the aggressive counter-rucking style of Carnforth, notable when they were cleared out off their own ball and with the backline in attack formation, Carnforth charged through to score. That seemed to galvanise the Maroon & Gold, from the restart good pressure from Edmondson and Holmes saw Carnforth kick to touch, Clitheroe won the line out well and Smudge Smith skimmed the ball to Watson at 10, Waddington cut a sublime line though the Carnforth defence to score under the posts, conversion taken the score moved on to 18 -10 and Clitheroe were in the game. Carnforth pressed from the re-start and only a great steal in contact from Railton followed by a classic never say die cover tackle from Kino protected the Clitheroe line. Carnforth did not relent and went in under the posts, however their kick appeared to have left his best boots at home as the conversion was missed.
For the second week in a row Clitheroe were manfully chasing the game and for the second week, this left them open to the counter attack – which with a hard running back line like Carnforth is bound to end in tears. Carnforth scored a great try from defence, aided by some sloppy tackling, then another as the Maroon & Gold pressed hard to find the home team line, then another.
There were flashes of brilliance in the Clitheroe display, a massive counter-ruck just in the Carnforth half won quick attacking ball for the Maroon & Gold, Smudge Smith, Watson then Peel made their mark on the attack as the ball propelled its way out to the wing where speedy Birch evaded tackles to make good yards up into the Carnforth 22. From there he popped the ball the replacement centre Keough who barrelled the ball within sight of the line and when prop Atkinson appeared on the wide side to touch down it culminated a great piece of rugby for the Clitheroe men.
Carnforth looked to seal their victory in the dying minutes of the game with some good dynamic running, however the men in Maroon & Gold were in no mood to let them have the final say. As the whistle went, the final score of 42 – 15 reflected a deserved win for Carnforth’s and showed their consistency throughout the game, but it also indicated they did not have everything their own way. Next week’s visitors to Littlemoor are Eagle and Clitheroe will need to sharpen up their defence to keep competitive, kick off 3 pm, while the 2nd XV have a trip to Blackburn for a rearranged fixture.

by O.McE.