Victory at Chorley

Clitheroe travelled to Chorley hoping to make up for losing last week's home game at the death and despite a much-changed squad once again, there was a positive air amongst the players prior to kick off.

As the team made it on the pitch it quickly became clear just how boggy the playing surface actually was and you'd have thought running rugby was unlikely to be the order of the day. However, this didn't seem to affect Clitheroe as they started much the brighter with returning players Nathan Carlton and Simon Coulter both making strong runs and showing good handling in opening minutes. The pack were creating good quality ball, which enabled Gretton at fly half to pull all the attacking strings. After 10 minutes he forced a move down the left and after some good inter-passing between a number if players, Winger Coulter finished strongly in the corner to give the visitors the first score. Chorley hit back quickly after with a try of their own to take the half time score to 7-5 to Clitheroe.

After the turn round, Chorley started to get a grip on the game and despite some heroic tackling from Newton, Hayton and Procter they were took the lead with a smartly taken try. But just as Chorley had done earlier, Clitheroe hit back promptly with substitute Robinson following up on a charge down to dot down superbly.

A Chorley penalty took the score to 15-12 in the home side's favour and with only 10 minutes to play Clitheroe were facing a second consecutive narrow defeat. That was until scrum half Wood found the smallest of gaps down the blindside and some unusual fleet of foot to outsprint the defence and score out wide. Clitheroe then held out to take a deserved win in what was a very entertaining game of rugby. Both forwards and backs played with plenty of spirit, which augurs well for Pundy's team as we near the halfway point in the season. He perhaps need some more regular appearances from a larger number of players but other than that he has a fine blend of youth and experience to draw from each week.