What a transformation! sunshine, tries and more tries

Rugby in the northern hemisphere usually means 6 inches of mud and 3 inches of rain but the recent spell of warm weather meant that temperatures soared at Littlemoor on Saturday. To match the weather, the rugby played by the men in Maroon & Gold was scorching and visitors Hutton returned home burnt.

After a tough encounter last week, the Clitheroe men entertained Hutton at home and were decidedly more match sharp. Throughout the game they showed grit & steel that Captain Oliver McEntyre has requested of his men. They were merciless in attack, resolute in defence and played rugby right up until the final whistle as they put their opposition to the sword.

Clitheroe were always on top in this encounter and from the starting kick off the forwards ran the ball back to the opposition. As early as the 3rd minute after several forward drives the ball was spun out to the backs through Dan Smith at scrum-half to Peel at 10, after gaining ground onto the opponents 22 metre line he gave the ball to Lafranceschina at inside centre who jinked in to score a try he also converted and Clitheroe led 7 – 0.

Clitheroe piled on the pressure and as the clock ticked towards 15 minutes it was Peel who went himself after a great passage of interplay between backs and forwards opened up the field for him. The conversion followed and the score line moved on the 14 – 0.

Less than 5 minutes later full back Dickinson bust into the line after the forwards secured ball at the opposition ruck. He glided through the Hutton defence to score which was duly converted and the score ticked on to 21 – 0. When the first 40 minutes was up there had was a further try a piece for stand off Peel and full back Dickinson and the conversions were added by Lafranceschina to give Clitheroe a 35 – 0 half-time lead.

Hutton came out firing in the 2nd half, and in the first 10 minutes they attacked the Clitheroe line over and over. There was some resolute defence to keep them out but eventually Hutton were rewarded for their efforts with a try that was converted to make the score 35 – 7. After that flurry, it didn’t get much better for Hutton in the 2nd half, historically Clitheroe would have taken their foot off the gas and perhaps even let a team scramble back into a match after going into a reasonable lead. Not today, after a brief but firm word from the Captain while they were under the posts, normal service was resumed for the remainder of the second half.

Tries followed for Peel (X2), Lafranceschina and Dickinson as well as a try to reward the forwards for all their hard work, Rigby managing to touch down after all the hard work was done for him by his forward colleagues. The final score was 66 – 7 in favour of the Maroon & Golds.

Clitheroe played well to a man, but the contribution of Thornber and Curphey in the pack and Peel, Dickinson and Man of the Match Lafranceschina in the backs were first rate, and the début performances of Whelan and Moody were also very pleasing as they settle into the squad.

There was a lot to like about this performance in such temperatures that make rugby almost unbearable. But the one thing that pleased the home crowd and the Captain more than anything was the concentration and communication from 1 to 15. When that is combined with a steely will to win it is a deadly combination, as Hutton found out.

Clitheroe 1sts travel to Vale of Lune next Saturday. Vale lie immediately below Clitheroe with both teams having won one and lost one. It’ll be interesting to see whether this new found success can continue.