Clitheroe return to winning ways

If you were to look at the fixtures for the coming weeks for both teams you'd see a veritable swathe of fixtures between Clitheroe and local rivals from over't hill, Colne & Nelson. Bob Wilkinson's 2nd team played them for the second time this season, this time at Littlemoor following an away win in early season. This is followed up next week by a return fixture, this time in the Lancashire Plate, then for the first game back in January on the 5th, the 1sts entertain C&N 1st team.

In the first game of the triple header, Clitheroe found themselves in a much changed side from the one that struggled so badly at Leigh the previous week. The front row was strengthened by the return of Smith and Thornber whilst the back five saw Dowson and Hough return following festive shopping trips. It wasn't just the forwards that were bolstered and after only being able to field 14 men last week, with the backs especially under-strength, this week the centre partnership of Bartle and Hardy was resumed and usual 1st team scrum half Smith made a guest appearance on the wing, such is the dearth of backs available at the moment. Young Brown continued at scrum half and he was joined by veteran fly half Watson following 3 weeks out with a short/tight hamstring. Shread and Keough made up the remainder of the back three.

In the pre-match huddle Wilkinson made it clear that there wasn't going to be anything of the Leigh performance brought into this game and we were to explode out of the blocks. C&N had obviously brought a young side and despite them only being able to turn out 14 men, they were to be tenacious throughout the game and gave the home side no time to settle. Once the whistle blew, Clitheroe took the game to the visitors and although Clitheroe weren't necessarily camped in the C&N half, they were exerting a great deal of pressure whenever they had the ball. The forwards were just about getting enough of a grip at ruck time, despite the C&N forwards creating havoc at the breakdown, and Brown and Watson were proving excellent pivots for Bartle and Hardy to weave their magic.

Hardy was the first beneficiary after Bartle found speed where there normally isn't any. Bartle set off at a right old pace and simply popped to Hardy allowing him to score a great opening try. The tables were reversed not too long later when Hardy made good yards before passing to Bartle for a try. Smith was next up with a well taken try on the right whilst the final score of the half came from Wilkinson after Watson had made a terrific break down the middle before passing a deft ball over the head of a defender to the supporting second row trundling upfield. Keough managed to slot all 4 conversions in the half.

From the off in the second half, Clitheroe were executing their game plan well and it wasn't long before first, winger Shread, then lock Wilkinson scored further tries. C&N were defending manfully however the home team were using their experience and no mean skill, especially out wide, to make keep the opposition on the back foot.

Watson scored one of his own and deservedly so after Edmondson showed his beautiful soft (and relatively small) hands before Smith scored his second. Bartle should have been next up but he ran out of steam and couldn't quite find Hardy outside him with the undoubtable scoring pass. At this point, Hough had taken over the kicking duties from Keough after he went off injured and because none of the tries were close to the posts he wasn't having much success. Prop Procter even tried a conversion himself by plonking the ball on a lump of mud, but this was also unsuccessful. Eventually, Hough was to score a try of his own and surprisingly, he managed to slot the extras.

The final scores came from the ever-industrious Dowson and replacement hooker Penney, who looked dangerous during his shirt time on the field. Hough managed to add another conversion to take his tally to two for the game. Man of the match was awarded to James Hardy for his all round great game but he was pushed by many others. This was an excellent riposte to last week's Leigh debacle.

Throughout the game, the young guns from over the hill never gave up and they will surely be a true force to be reckoned with once a few more experienced players return to the fold for next weekend's crunch cup game. The venue for the game is currently up in the air and may possibly end up at Clitheroe- see website for latest updates at www.clitheroerugby.com