Aldwinians gain revenge for early season home defeat

After the recent cold weather Clitheroe 1st XV donned their boots in anger for the first time in nearly 3 weeks to entertain the Manchester team Aldwinians – who they just touched off in the away fixture early in the season.
Fielding a strong team, but with a few absentees from illness, the Maroon & Gold took to the pitch which had passed a late morning inspection. The game opened with some typically tight exchanges, and Aldwinians were looking sharper in the opening tussles. Clitheroe were not without their moments however – with the back line looking to run the ball through the aggressive running of centres Peel and Waddington. It was the visitors who struck first with a bizarre score, having missed an easy penalty kick Clitheroe took the 22 drop out and landed the ball around the 10 metre line only for the catching Aldwinian player to snatch a drop goal that sailed between the sticks. As they attacked again a fine try saving tackle from Lafranceschina saved the day and Clitheroe looked to attack and repay the pressure. Marching into the Aldwinian half with the pack working well, second rows Mick Thornber and Edmondson leading the charge with the pair of flankers Cowgill and Rigby working at their usual high work rate to ensure the ball came back on the Clitheroe side. Eventually the pressure was too much for the visitors and a penalty was duly awarded and taken by the Maroon & Gold – scores all square at 3 – 3.
Clitheroe were warming to the task now and had some good pressure into the Aldwinians half, with the half backs of Smith and Watson controlling the ball well and setting some good drives up through the forwards and releasing the ball well to the back line. After a series of driving rucks where the front row of Graves, Jim Smith and Andrew Thornber were instrumental in getting the ball moving forward. The ball was released to the backs and Lafranceschina burst into the line from full back and broke over the gain line to set up the ruck, again the hard working pack ensured the ball came back on the Maroon & Gold side. Graves picked it up and demolished the defence to touch down, the conversion was taken and Clitheroe went into a 10 -3 lead. Aldwinians hit back before half time with a well worked score of their own which started on the half way line and finished under the posts with a score for their scrumhalf.
Five minutes into the second half Aldwinians scored again after a dubious ball turnover in mid-field led to a breakaway try against the run of play to take a 10- 17 lead, and again they took a penalty to move a clear 10 points ahead. Clitheroe never gave up and repeatedly pressed the Aldwinians line where the visiting defence took ever desperate measures to prevent clean ball to the home team. One move looked like succeeding but the final pass would just not go hand for Simon Coulter, who was looking sharp on the 1st XV debut for the season. On the other wing Ben Rigby also had some good runs when the Aldwinians full back tried to test him with the high kick, which he returned with a vengeance.
The game closed out with Aldwinians securing a win they were clearly pleased with and they are presently the form team of the league on a winning run of 7 games and given that Clitheroe have neither trained or played for nearly 3 weeks it was an excellent performance which the team can build on for next week when both teams are away at Leigh. Man of the Match was Richard Edmondson, an acknowledgement of his high work rate throughout the game and the driving runs throughout the game.