Great start at home for the 2nd XV

Clitheroe’s second XV got their season off to a fantastic start this Saturday at Littlemoor Park.A staggering number of unavailable players for the Town teams left new Skipper Dave Watson with a real uphill battle to turn out a competitive side.After ensuring the First XV travelled with as strong a squad as possible for their fixture against Oldham things were looking grim and favours were called and players old and new cajoled.

The Blackpool team arrived at the ground at 13:15 and with a squad in excess of 25 they set about what was a very thorough and comprehensive warm up with kick off not until 15:00. Watson stood on the club steps at 14:00 with 9 players and more guys calling in to say they may not make it. Cometh the hour- cometh the men, and with 20 minutes to kick off there were 14 Clitheroe players in the town shirts ready to get stuck in.

What a start to the game, Clitheroe were pushing hard from the off and soon kicked themselves into a 9:0 lead through the boot of James ‘Bicky‘ Dickinson. The Littlemoor men sensed the Blackpool guys although large in numbers may well have over trained and looked rather lead legged. But the game was very much on, never the less and Blackpool fought back, with a kick of their own.

As the half time whistle blew, Watson turned to the home crowd and asked for a volunteer to put Clitheroe to a full 15 so the game could be sealed and the back line completed. Fortune favours the brave and as luck would have it Nathan Peel was persuaded out of premature retirement and as his beard wafted majestically in the back line the second half was started with real enthusiasm.

A tough game played by tough men always means there will be penalties and both teams commitment lead to yellow cards as the summer rustiness was shrugged aside and passions flared. The Clitheroe pack introducing debutante Prop Dan Tolley though up against it in the set piece, excelled in the loose and this gave new scrum half Joe Weld-Blundell lots of clean attacking ball to unleash the now full strength back line. The pressure told and Bicky was over the line from a fabulous backs move from well within the Clitheroe Half. An athletic try from Peel proved that a life of obsessive gym work and protein shakes does yield some positive results. The try of the game though was yet to come.

Alex Usain Woodward chased down a long range kick for the Blackpool corner and beat the first defender. A high tackle 2mts from the line had the Ref heading under the posts to award a penalty try but Woodward did not hear the whistle and left no doubt of his intentions for the coming season by jumping back to his feet and putting the ball down over the whitewash, for what must be a contender for try of the season. Blackpool did not travel to capitulate and showing resilience and pride they rounded off the match with a try of their own.

Final score 26:11 and under such circumstances one can only imagine what impact a settled and full strength Clitheroe could have on the league this season. A pleasure to play, a delight to watch- CRUFC needs the towns support this season as it seeks further players and supporter to reach its true potential.