After seemingly months of pre season and the 'phoney war' of warm games, at last it was time for the real meat and potatoes of the season; the start of the league campaign.
Life in Div 3 awaits; tougher games, faster games, bigger opposition and so less room for error. Would the squad be up to the task?
Well on overall first impressions - the answer is mostly positive. A 5 try bonus point win was not too shabby for starters.

Green Lane, Ormskirk was the destination for the initial fixture an Coach Walton's charges had prepped well and amongst the new faces from last season included in the squad were back row man Ed Sinclair and hooker Adam Spencer. Sam Tarbuck returned after a sojourn down south and Rick Griffiths directed operations from out half.

Playing into a light wind , Clitheroe soon found themselves under the pump as 'Kirk raced into an early lead with a converted try and penalty. (10-0) With the pack buckling at the first scrum the portents were not good.
This only spurred the team into belated action and two quickfire tries from James Dickenson and then from Sinclair, after some great approach work from Wayne Tierney and Nathon Burns, leveled up the scores on the half hour (10-10)

Ormskirk's excellent kicker punished an indiscretion for the home side to regain the lead (13-10). But the maroons were attacking well through the forwards and the support play was strong; openside flanker Joe Aspin, sporting a natty off the ear bandana, was next to benefit to dot down near the posts. Rick Griffiths converted to put Clitheroe in the lead at the interval (13-17)
The second period started well for the maroons when again after some good off loading and supporting players running off shoulders, a gap opened up and Nick Roberts was happy to capitalise.

The conversion gave Clitheroe a small cushion (13-24)
However the home side were far from done and struck back a few minutes later with a try of their own (18-24).
But the visitors were not put off their stride at this time and when Griffiths himself danced over and converted his own try, things were looking rosy for the town team (18-31).
As typical for this topsy turvy game Ormskirk came back with a bang and scored a converted try (25-31) to put the jitters up the travelling support.
8 minutes to go. Time for cool heads and good game management. Some poor decision making was nearly Clitheroe's undoing and the Green's jumped on the chance and swept down field to score in the corner. (30-31) Conversion missed but strangely the home team seemed unperturbed at the restart. With seconds to go Ormskirk were awarded a penalty on their own 22. Expecting them to run it , there was some surprise when it was kicked out of play to end the game.
Puzzled faces and bafflement ensued. The Clitheroe travelling support and most of the home support knew the score but it seemed there was some on field confusion. Captains and referee discussed and pondered and the result, rightly stood.

As Ormskirk were in the ascendancy at the time, it is a moot point as to weather they would have scored off the last play - but we will never know. Fair play to both teams, no gloating and no whinging.

Clitheroe will be happy enough with the 'W' and some of their play; the scrum grew stronger as the game progressed and line outs were better than of late. Support play was excellent but need to be more assertive at the breakdown. Some of the back play lacked ambition but will come with game time.
Up another gear this week for the first home league game. Orrell RUFC the visitors. 3pm . Tasty.