Clitheroe 1st XV played their final league game of the season at a sun drenched Littlemoor on Saturday, but lost out to an efficient Old Bedians side. The home team just couldn’t reproduce the intensity of the previous week’s home win for long enough periods of the game.
With the squad showing the effects of a long season were injuries have taken their toll, Clitheroe were without the services of influential centre Chris Waddington and longer term absentees prop Ben Graves and full back Martin Lafranceschina; all were frustrated touch line observers.
Also a more than interested onlooker was coach-mentor Alex Loney, seeing if any of his wise words from the training paddock could be replicated against ‘live’ opposition.
There was another start for improving prop forward Tom Hardman and a recall on the wing for James Waterworth. Otherwise the squad was more or less the one that had played throughout the season.
An expectant end of season crowd was buoyed by Clitheroe’s immediate desire to attack the visitors’ line at every opportunity. Clitheroe’s high tempo game seemed to have Bedians nonplussed as their defence retreated with some alacrity.
The town team were over the whitewash with hardly 10 minutes on the clock. Fittingly it was the Captain Nathan Peel who scampered over and was on hand with extra two point conversion.
Gradually Bedians began to claw their way back into the game and for most of the second quarter Clitheroe got bogged down in their own half. A penalty for the visitors was swiftly followed with a try from their outside half who sliced through a static Clitheroe defence.
7-10 at the interval and it was anyone’s game. Clitheroe made some changes in personnel; on came Sam Thornber for the industrious lock Ross Chamberlain – still struggling with a calf strain from last week. Also by now dashing full back Jordan Wilde had temporarily retired with a knock, a shame for the young man as he’d been in fine flying fettle, revelling in the dry going until then. On came ever faithful eager beaver Struan Robertson in his place.
The second half turned into a bit of an arm wrestle as neither side could make much headway initially. But it was Bedians who broke the deadlock scoring what proved to be a decisive try after about 20 minutes.
Clitheroe responded gallantly but Bedians defence was well organised and held firm. But that’s not to say the Clitheroe didn’t have their chances. But all too often some wrong options at the wrong time frustrated the side line support.
Some individual moments of brilliance lifted the crowd, Alex Hough [pictured] never stopped trying, and along with Dan Smith and Robertson, made may half breaks but they just could not finish off the moves.
As the clock ran down it was a case of déjà-vu for the maroon and golds. It was Clitheroe’s season in microcosm. No shortage of effort and enthusiasm but yet another game, and without doubt a winnable one, slipped through the fingers.
But with this Saturdays traditional Presidents Match and a tour to Madrid in May to look forward to, the new season will be upon us in no time.