Fun in the Sun . Part Deux

Despite enduring a testing couple of hours prior to kick off due to late withdrawals and a significant problem with mobile phone signals across East Lancashire, Clitheroe travelled to Preston with a steely determination to maintain their unbeaten start to the season.

Clitheroe welcomed Pete Farnsworth, Miles Sharples and Joel Levins into the fold, all making their debut for the season. It was also a full senior debut for Sam Rayner, a recent call up from local football. All the necessary ingredients were in place fro another cracking afternoon of rugby. Beautiful weather, a fantastic pitch, and a Clitheroe team full of gnarled veterans and young pups, keen to please their ever growing band of followers.

If this team was a dish in a restaurant it would be a gastronomic delight.

PGH were well into their warm up when Clitheroe took to the field in the autumn sunshine. They were clearly a big set and plenty of them, 22 to be exact! The fact that Clitheroe themselves only had a bare 16 may have daunted previous incarnations of Clitheroe’s second string but not this vintage.

They skipped the warm up and went straight into a team huddle and summoned the spirit of the Spartan 300 and vowed to let no man pass!

It soon became clear from the kick off that size wasn’t everything, and mobility, agility and nous were far more important and effective. Clitheroe’s game plan since the start of the season has been to generate quick ball at the breakdown and move it into wide channels as quickly as possible. This tactic was too prove very effective against PGH’s bulky team. Clitheroe’s first try came from a simple move in midfield with Ben Graves, playing more like Sam Burgess than Dan Cole, in an unaccustomed centre position, taking a short ball off fly half Dave Watson, and crashing over the top of the PGH fullback and over the line. Mitch Jones added the extras.

PGH couldn’t get a foothold in the game due to the excellent defensive work of the tight five, Procter, Jones, Murray, Farnsworth and Smith. The breakdown was also going Clitheroe’s way with the loose forward trio of Richard and Sam Thornber and Mark Preston first to everything. PGH’s big runners were cut down at source which nullified their game plan. Clitheroe’s big men were making plenty of yards down the middle of the park, and at times, Graves, Smith, Farnsworth and Thornber were impossible to tackle and off loaded at will. From one of these breaks Clitheroe scored their second try. A great handling move involving forwards and backs gave Austin Wensley the space to go in at the left hand corner. It wasn’t long before the scoreboard was ticking over again when Clitheroe’s human wrecking ball, Jim Smith (pictured) powered over from short range carrying 3 PGH defenders with him. Jones added the extra 2 points.

The final score of the half also went to Clitheroe and Jim Smith again. Using his deceptive power to weight ratio he steam rolled over the line. Jones clinical with boot once more. This saw the half time score 24-0 to Clitheroe.

The talk in the Clitheroe camp at half time was too play with the same intensity and positivity in the second half and to keep their try line in tact and the opposition to nil.

At the start of the second half PGH began to use their extensive subs bench to try to influence the game in their favour but to no avail. Clitheroe were in the mood to press home their advantage. PGH couldn’t cope with the pace of Clitheroe’s game both in the forwards and the backs. Joel Levins and Miles Sharples, both on their first starts of the season, crossed for tries in rapid succession. Both showed how dangerous they can be in open space with their fleet feet. Jones converted both scores.

One dark cloud over the afternoon was a reoccurrence of the hand injury that had kept Sam Thornber out for the start of the season. This was a great shame as he had been having a great game up to this point. His replacement was Sam Rayner who Clitheroe had plucked from obscurity in local football. He looks to be a real find with his pace and elusive running.

One player who was causing the opposition serious headaches with his weaving runs was Dan Smith or Maze Runner as he is now known. He must have covered every inch of the pitch as he slalomed in and out looking for space and a hole in the defence.
From one of his breaks Clitheroe moved the ball effortlessly through several pairs of hands before Dave Watson put in a measured kick for Joel Levins to outpace the covering defence to collect the ball and touch down in the right hand corner.

Clitheroe’s final try came from quick thinking from Ben Graves. A penalty was awarded to Clitheroe in front of PGH’s posts. As the opposition dithered big Ben tapped to himself and was under the posts in a flash to prove that props aren’t as daft as they look. Jones once again with the conversion.

PGH to their credit continued to pressurise Clitheroe and towards the end of the game they had a lot of field position. Clitheroe were determined to keep their opponents to nil and every man jack stood up to be counted with tackle after tackle made to defend the line. At the final whistle the score line read PGH 0 – Clitheroe 48. The team were more pleased with nil than the 48 and that mind set epitomises the spirit that is being engendered within the group.

As Timbuk3 said back in the 80’s, ‘the future’s so bright we gotta wear shades…!’

Report by DW