The motley crew of young pretenders and old has beens with a smattering of keen up and coming young thrusting blades assembled at Green Lane HQ of Ormskirk RFC.

Unfortunately the typhoon that we'd been promised , and secretly hoping for, never materialized .

The pitch was looking good. And large.

A double disaster to start with; the returning skipper – (as tradition dictates now) lost the toss [just how difficult can it be?] and one of the young blades was stuck in traffic; which was a bit ironic as he was being ferried by rally driving chum, and turned up after 15 minutes of play.

By then Clitheroe had realised this was not going to be an easy afternoon. A cursory glance at the opposition, failed to detect a streak of grey hair, surgical supports or extra long thermal shorts .

What was going on?

Where was the whiff of horse liniment so beloved by the more mature player?
Anyone have a couple of roll ups in their pocket?

Even a handkerchief - a must for any aspiring gentleman player surely?

No, not one of their pack looked like they knew about the art of two footed rucking (as developed by former Clitheroe player W.P. Dinsdale) and even looked like they knew all about the dreaded 'T' word.

Ahem...training.

Young, mobile and fit the Ormskirk lads certainly put Clitheroe to the sword.

The old farts up front were ok'ish in the set piece but were shown up out wide, and gave the backs only scraps to feed off.

Bit of a shame for them really, because the likes of Sam White, Tuggy, Matt Furbush, Matt Bleasdale and Phil Winstanley we had some good lads, but with little support and even less front foot ball they can be absolved from making little inroads.

Some bright spots did appear ; Sam White split the defence and scored an excellent solo long range try. Forest had a great game and tackled well – plenty of practice.
New man Sam Cheeseman again, grew into the game after a wobbly start and will be an asset.
Also great to see the return of Will Jones at prop/hooker – leaner and hungrier than ever.....or maybe just hungrier.

Also great to see the entourage triple in numbers this week. Thanks for the support Emily, Ariel and Emma.

But to conclude, this Ormskirk side were very good and if they turn out this team every week will easily be in promotion position come April.

It was noted that the Skipper was runner up in the mars bar/Guinness drink off. Silver medal only KK!

Pics by Emily. Thanks!