‘A Different Kettle of Fish’

Clitheroe welcomed Preston’s 5th string to Littlemoor hoping to extend their winning run to five games and to inflict a second defeat on ‘Hoppers in the space of two weeks.
The core of the team remained in tact but there was some shuffling as we have come to expect. Dave Watson [pic left] moved to scrum half in place of the influential Dan Smith and Nathan Peel [pic right] managed to extricate himself from his household chores to don the number 10 jersey.
There were first starts of the season for man mountain Lewis Williams, the ginger ninja Mark Jackson, and the returning Harry Thompson and James Pate after a few seasons in the rugby wilderness. There was also a welcome to the club for our new resident Australian Dan . He was destined to be the only man with a smile on his face come 10pm that night.

PGH arrived with the usual mix of old heads and young tearaways and it was clear that a tougher game was on the cards than the previous week. Captain Dave Watson warned the team against complacency prior to kick off and asked for the standards they had set to be maintained.
Clitheroe kicked the game off playing away from the club house and immediately began dominating possession and territory. It was clear that PGH were going to struggle with the size and power of Clitheroe’s pack of forwards. A pack containing Murray, Pate, Jones, Dowson, Williams, Farnsworth, Preston and Robinson is as big as it gets. This was illustrated at scrum time where the maroon and gold juggernaut shunted the opposing eight back time and time again. Clitheroe’s first try came as a direct result of this forward dominance giving the backs time and space to exploit Sam Rayners pace on the wing.
The second try was a replica of the first with the big Clitheroe forwards punching big holes in the PGH defence before the ball was spun wide to the left for Miles Sharples to dot down. Mitch Jones added the extras.
Things were getting desperate for PGH in the tight exchanges although their loose running game was giving Clitheroe some food for thought. One of PGH’s props unfortunately had to leave the field injured and scrums became uncontested which negated a lot of Clitheroe’s early dominance up front.
The game became a very loose and fast which suited PGH and they began to claw their way back into the game with a score of their own. Captain Watson asked for more effort around the park and this was rewarded with a try for Mark Preston following good work from Pete Farnsworth and Giz Williams. Jones added the conversion. PGH wouldn’t lie down though and good work from their back row led to another try for them.
Clitheroe were an angry bunch under their own posts as they realised they were not performing to the level they had set themselves the previous four weeks. Harsh words were had and more aggression and physicality promised. Clitheroe managed to score the final points of the half with a penalty in front of the posts as PGH infringed.

Half –time Clitheroe 22- PGH 7

Clitheroe were slow out of the blocks in the second half and PGH quickly added another try and a penalty to bring the game to within a score. This was a real examination of Clitheroe’s character and one they hadn’t faced so far this season.
Fresh legs were brought on to provide some much needed impetus in the shape of Danny Cowgill, Joel Levins and Jake Proctor. The changes brought new energy to the team and Harry Thompson celebrated his return to rugby action with a try, converted by Jones.
This was followed by good work from Peel who put in a lovely grubber kick behind the PGH defence for Levins to collect and score in the left hand corner. Clitheroe’s game had definitely improved but PGH were a determined lot and some of their older heads began to influence the game. They added 2 tries of their own in quick succession to make the score 30 – 25. This was getting too close too call for Clitheroe.
Mitch Jones who has been a pivotal figure for Clitheroe with his kicking boots had to leave the field with blood streaming from his nose to be replaced by Mark Jackson. Clitheroe knew they had to dig deep to keep their winning run going. The forwards stepped up to the plate and a great catch and drive from a line out on PGH’s 22 meter line enabled scrum half Watson to break down the blind side and pop to Peel who powered through a tackle and crossed the line to get himself a well deserved try. Peel added the conversion. In the final few minutes Clitheroe had to withstand some fierce PGH pressure but great tackling from Robinson, Thompson, Sharples and particularly Rayner kept them at bay to ensure Clitheroe ran out winners.

This was far from a vintage performance from Clitheroe and a long way from the stellar brand of rugby they have been producing. However, as they say ,to win when you’re not playing well is the sign of a strong team and Clitheroe have proved that as well as being able to throw the ball about and rack up big score lines they can also scrap and fight when they need to which all bodes well for the games to come.

Report by DW