Clitheroe bounce back

Clitheroe entertained 4th place Vale of Lune at Littlemoor, and with the town team sitting at 6th in the table when the day began, they were looking like underdogs. However, as they had already beaten Vale at away and naming a strong squad, Skipper Oliver McEntyre exuded a quiet confidence in his team to deliver a table climbing victory.
The game opened brightly considering the wet and windy conditions and it was the Maroon & Gold in the ascendancy. Ralph Rigby broke blind from a ruck set up by the dominant forwards and with Cowgill and Mick Thornber in quick support the ball popped back on the Clitheroe side. Smudge Smith popped the ball to the Watson at Stand Off who timed the pass to perfection to Kino who burst into the line at full back breaking the Vale ranks, he then chipped and gathered to score under the posts, 7 – 0 up with 15 minutes played.
More pressure from the Maroon & Gold forwards with the inseparable “twins” Andrew Thornber and Jim Smith powering up the park putting Vale on the back foot. Penalty awarded for a transgression and Kino stepped up to take the points. From the restart Clitheroe again stepped into Vale territory once more, again the forwards winning the muscle battle with Aaron Atkinson who was pulled off his sickbed to play looking devastating in the charging loose play. The ball spun down the line through 4 sets of hands until Chris Waddington smashed the ball up the centre of the park in his true aggressive penetrating style. The secret of good rugby is to win quick ball and with the pack in the ascendancy this was not a problem to the Clitheroe backline, Edmondson flew in to secure the ball and it was Bartle who took the pass from sharp shooter scrummie Smith and promptly showed his deceptive pace and sluiced in to score and Clitheroe went 15 nil up.
Vale took the ball on from the re-start and mauled the ball into the Clitheroe 22, and broke blind to score towards the corner, but still took the conversion to claw back 7 points. Clitheroe re-grouped and strode into the Vale half once more, Gretton drove the ball forward only to injure himself in the process and was replaced by Olly Greenwood on the wing.AS the Clitheroe team foraged forward Vale’s only defence at times was to commit the penalty to slow the ball down and spoil the attack – from one such occasion Clitheroe took the 3 points on offer. After the restart Mick Thornber again took the catch and smashed his way up the field to set up the ruck, again it was Waddington who broke through with the ball in hand, held up Vale managed to steal the ball in the ensuing breakdown and looked the attack from deep, which was snaffled out by some hard tackling from Ben Rigby on the wing and Smudge Smith at scrum half. McEntyre nicked the ball in contact and set up the ruck which the forwards drove on again before the hardworking Ralph Rigby managed to pop up blind and score to move the Maroon & Gold into a 23 – 7 lead at half time.
After the turn round the weather closed in a little and the pitch began to cut up, that combined with Vale upping their game a little meant no further points were scored. However as the Maroon & Gold ran out convincing 23 – 7 winners, there is much hope for climbing the table as the season begins to build to its climax.
Honourable mentions in the game could go to many, but it was the fresh faced youthfulness of Mick Thornber that won the coveted Man of Match award for his constant work rate and hard driving game up front. Next week Clitheroe 1st XV travel to Leigh for a re-scheduled match lost to the frost and snow earlier in the season.