Heartbreak at Newton

An agonising end to this hard fought game at Newton le Willows was scant reward for Clitheroe Rugby’s senior XV.

Into the final minute and the scores tied at 12 points apiece it seemed that a respectable draw was on the cards. But a final kick and rush from the home side saw them scramble over under the posts to drive a dagger through Clitheroe’s aspiration of a rare away win.

It had all started so brightly for the town team. Buoyed by a string of improved performances, and in spite of a couple of players preferring the delights of the Grand National to a trip to rugby league heartland, Clitheroe were at nearly full strength.

A near perfect playing surface awaited the teams and a particularly raucous touchline crowd were there to add to the atmosphere. In their penultimate game of the season Clitheroe were in no mood to go out with a whimper.

However the home team had other ideas and within the first five minutes they were over the line and some doubts may have kicked in at this time.
But after weathering this early onslaught from Newton and only conceding the solitary try, the Littlemoor men were soon on the charge. After a preliminary rumble up the centre of the field by the forwards the ball was eventually spun out to the left wing.

Out there was the lurking Lewis Hardman[pic]; he got the ball about 30 yards out but still had plenty to do. A burst of pace to beat his man and a nice swerve inside the cover defence, saw him over to open Clitheroe’s account.

Lewis,along with brother Tom who was playing prop today, are typical of the new faces Clitheroe have attracted to the Club recently. Both in their first full season with the club and both these lads along with a few like-minded others are looking good for the future. Not the ‘finished articles’ in rugby sense maybe, but as far commitment, loyalty and dedication they are unsurpassed. Good teams are built on the shoulders of such characters.

Clitheroe now had the bit between their teeth and were pressuring the Newton defence into mistakes.
Scrum half Dan Smith combined well with Darren Eagle of the back of the scrum but with the line at their mercy, the final pop up pass went astray.

Not to be outdone, centre Chris Waddington did what he has done all season; a tremendous angled burst put him behind the first up defence, and with back rower Luke Hayton supporting well the ball was feed out for that man Dan Smith to score under the posts. Skipper Nathan Peel converted to put Clitheroe 7-12 up at the interval.

A couple of changes to keep the momentum rolling, saw John Procter come on at prop and Wayne Latham on the right wing.

It was felt that Clitheroe really needed to score next to put the game to bed. But Newton are not a team to lie down and within the first 15 minutes had drawn level.

Now the tension was rising with every passing minute with neither team were willing to give ground or make a mistake. Both defences were working overtime and nearly tackled themselves into the ground.

Then with the clock wound down to 79 minutes Newton applied the coup de grace with their final roll of the dice.

Heartbreak for Clitheroe, after such a monumental display, but fair play to Newton who played right up to the final whistle.

After such an outstanding team performance it would be churlish to highlight players for individual praise. But if this match and those of the last few weeks only show, that with a little more perseverance and doggishness this squad can start achieving their undoubted true potential. It may be a little late for this season but they can look forward to competing on a equal footing with most of the teams in this division next term.