Another good win but still plenty to work on

Clitheroe travelled away to the north of Lancaster with slightly changed squad from the previous week to face one of the two Vale of Lune teams in this division. Dave Watson came in at scrum-half and Hal came in at full-back, Bartle making a welcome appearance on the bench for the first time this season.

Clitheroe again came out of the block firing as last week and after the initial exchanges were looking good to put some points on the board. Pressure eventually told and Lafranceschina took the ball through the Vale back line after a series of driving mauls and rucks from the forwards and some excellent handling from the backs, the conversion was missed but the lead was Clitheroe’s.

From the kick off the Vale open-side flanker again put in a big tackle which was his trademark all afternoon, but Clitheroe retained possession and the ball spun out from Watson at scrum half to Peel and centre Lafranceschina took the ball in on the angle. Secured again by outside centre Railton with the help of the back row, Watson fired it out again and the Maroon & Golds made relentless progress up the pitch. This was again rewarded with points as Peel eventually crossed the line for try number 2 – Lafranceschina converted to give Clitheroe a 12 nil lead.

The next try went to O’Connor on the wing after some excellent interplay between backs and forwards – a feature of the Clitheroe play this season. Taking the ball just outside the 22 metre line the winger sluiced through the Vale back line and the scoreboard ticked on to 19 – 0 to Clitheroe with 20 minutes gone. It was at this stage Watson left the pitch with a nasty looking groin and this seemed to disrupt the team slightly as the only further score of the half was a Vale penalty.

At half-time Carins came on for Graves at tighthead prop, but it was Vale who again stated to pester Clitheroe as the half opened. Some close driving play bringing them near to the Clitheroe line, but to no avail. The thought of conceding a try seemed to wake the whole team up and after 10 minutes of the half they started playing as they had in the first 20 minutes. Open running rugby was the order of the last half hour with a try for Chamberlain after taking a pop pass from Rigby as the forwards dominated loose play. The next score was after one of a number strikes against the head at the scrum, Number 8 popped to scrum half and it was O’Connor who again streaked in for his second score.

Clitheroe lost Rigby to the sin bin after he took exception to some dangerous footwork on Carins at a ruck and the Maroon & Golds were down to 14 men. This didn’t stop them focusing on closing the game out as they took play up the pitch through backs and forwards and Penny, on for Thornber at hooker at this point, drove the ball in, McEntyre ran off the back of the maul and flicked a pass out to Railton who timed his pass to Birch on the wing well. Birch made good ground and looked likely to get his initial first team try but was hauled down with a few metres to go. McEntyre was on hand to take the pop pass and a simple touch down.

Birch didn’t have to wait much longer for that try as the forwards secured ball and the half backs fired it out to the centres who made room for Birch to show his pace and touchdown. The final score was 45 – 3 to Clitheroe as they progress up the league into 2nd position on points difference with 5 other teams.

Again, the match highlighted interplay between backs and forwards and the clinical way Clitheroe closed it out in the last 30 minutes nearly erases the memory of their 25 minute “snooze” halfway through the match. Vale stuck to their task well and possibly deserved more from the game. Tougher tests await Clitheroe if they are to maintain they league position, however this is a squad that is well up to the challenge.