Seconds Come Back to Come First

Table topping Clitheroe welcomed form side Orrell St James to Littlemoor for a clash that was certainly going to have significant bearing on promotion.

Clitheroe were able to field a reasonably settled side from the previous week’s victory but in addition welcomed back Greg Birch and Mitch Jones from injury.

Andrew Thornber continued the captain duties, with Steve Dowson suffering from the effects of a virus and beer on the bench.

The Littlemoor pitch was wet and greasy and this made for a difficult handling game. Orrell St James started strongly making strong runs deep into the Clitheroe defence. It was clear that this was the visitor’s game plan and it was vital Clitheroe made their tackles which they did. Rob Spenceley Jones was strong in the tackle all day, as was his brother Will Spenceley Jones and both had an excellent game and are excellent prospects for the future of CRUFC. The tackling all day was exemplary and one big tackle led to another. However possession was firmly in the favour of the visitors and following a scrum in the Clitheroe half the visitors inside centre scored under the posts following a nice step to wrong foot the defence. The extras were added but Clitheroe refused to lie down and camped in the visitors half with strong ball carrying from Sam Thornber who was a thorn in the side of the Orrell St James team all afternoon.
However it was the visitors who scored next with a well worked try creating an overlap and they touched down under the posts and added the conversion. Half time and the visitors led 14-0.

Captain Thornber rallied his troops and called for continued effort and asked for more composure.

The second half began and the Clitheroe pack exerted themselves, Farrell and Shorrock making the hard yards and the back row of Norman, Spenceley Jones and Thornber were everywhere. The visitors were being put under pressure by excellent line speed from the backs, with intelligent kicking from Railton also placing them on the back foot. This led to errors from the visitors and a scrum was awarded to the hosts some 10 meters from the Orrell St James try line. Clitheroe then exerted their superiority in the scrum to be awarded a penalty try which was converted. Special mention to front row of Murray, Captain Thornber and Procter. Extras were added and game on.

Clitheroe continued with the pressure and following a good passing move between the backs the excellent Birch touched down over the line. The conversion was missed but the game was there for the taking. As the game got competitive, a couple of yellow cards came out, Kay, who had replaced the tenacious Pirraglia, receiving one for the hosts. This Clitheroe team relies on its squad and Gretton replaced Wensley with Hansen, who had tackled well all day, moving into the centres.

The hosts continued to exert pressure on the visitors try line. The darting runs of Mitch Jones in his new role of scrum half proving very difficult to stop. Dowson and Williamson replaced Shorrock and Murray respectively and added their weight to the cause. Following a red card to one of the visitors Clitheroe maintained the pressure through good forward play and Railton stepped through the defence to score a superb try under the posts. This was converted and the hosts led with 5 mins to play.

Some excellent defending kept the visitors out and Clitheroe held on to claim a deserved victory.

Special mention must go Sam Thornber, Stuart Railton, Greg Birch and Mitch Jones for their performances. However man of the match goes to John Norman for his superb tackling and all round tenacity. Another star of the future for CRUFC.

With four games left promotion is within touching distance. However all support is needed for some difficult games that lie ahead. Next week the seconds are at home in another top of the table clash with Fylde.

Report by Steve Dows