This weeks adventure saw the mighty 2s heading to local friends Garstang to play their 2nds in the 2nd round of the cup.
A squad of a healthy 21 players found themselves pulling on the famous maroons kit.
With an assorted travelling entourage of misfits, vagabonds and lost souls amongst the proud parents it was nice to see and hear some volume from the travelling support.
As is tradition by now, Captain Kirk [sponsored by Fellside Farming]lost the coin toss and young Jack Stanley [sponsored by Timeless Fragrance]having his first run out at inside centre took up the mantle of kicking off.
After a good ten mins of some end to end stuff it was the Garstang skipper breaking the line to open the scores no extras added.
The Clitheroe pack started to gel the front row of Luke Hayton[sponsored by Jak Spedding] , Peter 'Wombat' Mitchell and the tank that is Tom Walton [b][sponsored by Winterbotham Darby, Clitheroe][/b] were immense at the coal face.
The big lads in the second row an out of breath skipper and the returning Sam Barr [sponsored by Cherrytree Bakery] causing a nuisance at every breakdown allowing the back three of Jamie Taylor, Mitch Jones and Phil 'Forest' Winstanley room to have some runs ball in hand. Forest even catching a pass while on the hoof - a sight rarely seen.
With the forwards playing well, even dare I say it looking slightly mobile around the park, the break through came on the thirty min mark.
The back line fed up of waiting on the forwards to get them some ball, Sam 'the Rev' Cheeseman got his first clean ball out the ruck of the day; silky little pop to Matt Probert at 10 .....little jink and a jive through the first two tackles . Then an unusual sight of Sam White doing the grunt work in the ruck. All the Rev had to do was pop it up as the thundering Tom Walton, who steamed through on the tight line carrying three defenders with him to the line for his first for the season no extras this time.
With rolling subs it was time to make some changes, the skipper lumbered off like an old cart horse to be replaced by the young Henry Raynard. Sam Cheeseman now in charge to finish out the half, it looked as if the maroons were taking the upper hand. But alas at the oranges it was all square 5-5.

The second half started as the first had finished nothing fancy, nothing flash, each man doing his job.
Garstang under pressure cleared their lines with a great kick which didn’t find touch and new lad Nick Robert’s at full back, maybe not his usual position, but felt like he had been there his whole career. He caught everything, tackled like a demon and made ground every time he ran. Having kept Garstang's attempted clearance in field, he set off on a run pulling defenders left an right as he snaked through the line. A little offload in the tackle gathered without too much fumbling by big Tom Walton who scampered away barely even noticing the full back clutching at his ankle as he made the line, this time Jack Stanley’s boot found its mark.
Few more changes saw Mitchell Jones and the Rev Cheeseman take five. On came Harry 'the enforcer' Barrett at 8 and young George Hamlet at scrum half.
Some great phases of rugby followed hard lines and meters made all round but a knock to Henry Raynard saw the skipper back on the field. Along with Mitchell Jones back on and Pete Shorthouse joining the fray. Hamlet, Probert, Stanley and White all started to ramp up the pace turning the screw as they went through the gears. Moving the ball through hands, they looked slick & accurate. The pace was cutting holes in the Garstang defence.
It was off one of these runs saw Mitchell Jones, settling in to this position of 8, collecting the cheeky offload and with some fancy footwork skipped home over the line. Again Stanley added the extras.
At the restart the skipper actually caught one more by luck than design. Clambering to his feet from the breakdown to watch Tom the tank Walton barrelling over at close range to grab his third of the day.
With the maroons now looking strong both in defence and attack, another little snipe from Hamlet, gave Probert coving at nine a chance to hit Nick Roberts on a charge. He gave a sweet little pass to White on half way.
Now Wombat Mitchell was there for the pick and go, and with a windmill Harry Pund style outrageous dummy, he stepped the first man, the full back came looking but got fended easily.
Then the panic set in.
Half an open pitch ball in hand and having only just come back on after a menthol five mins break. So he lit the afterburners ....lungs burning, legs aching, set off for the line tripping up 2ft short. But momentum carrying him over the line ( as one onlooker expressed maybe his front row union membership needs to be looked at ?) Again extras added by Stanley.
A final round of changes saw Adam Penny making a welcome return to the fold along with the legendary Harry Pund (demanding royalties for the flagrant use of his dummy by wombat) before Henry returned to the fold with myself, Jamie and Tom Walton taking well deserved breaks. Young Harry Barratt saw out the game as captain.

Penny made an immediate impact by tripping over his laces at the breakdown and falling through the breakdown to ‘win’ a turnover.

Sam White launched another trademark run across the field ball went loose in contact and George Hamlett hacked through and chased his kick down to round off proceedings with another lovely try.

Debutant Nick Marks was man of the match for his outstanding efforts.

A great effort by all concerned a return to Hoppers next week awaits.

Report by KK