Lancashire Cup Semi Final

I happened to be standing today beside a rugby pitch in Didsbury and remarking what a beautiful morning it was. Most often when uttering these words I would be at Simon’s Field (home of Didsbury Toc H). Today however I was down Millgate Lane, my second rugby home in Manchester, it was almost as good a feeling.

Didsbury Barbarians U16 team were hosting Trafford MV in the Lancashire Cup. The teams had drawn 17-17 in a well contested friendly match just three weeks prior so this promised to be a great game. Metrovicks are a local club with friendly players and friendly parent supporters… friendly coaches, one even paid tribute to the previous match report (although I confess I didn’t get sight of their version of events) and they sometimes like to dress up, all in pink. Friendly, with GSOH.

So on the weekend that the BBC sports reporters went on strike, I have been asked to pick up reporting duties. I don’t get paid by the BBC but if I did I would still remain totally impartial.

Befitting the occasion, highly accomplished former player and referee Gary French sported his North of England representative colours – red shirt and red socks with a big number two on his back. Didsbury won the toss and elected to play “up hill”. Trafford then asked them to kick off, into the wind too.

Fly-half Saul Hockenhull returning from his Twickenham duties, about which the less said the better, got the game underway. Didsbury looked lively, chasing the ball in numbers and using presence and pressure to keep the match in Trafford’s half. This looked immediately like a different side than they had been in the earlier encounter, in speed, attitude and also by the referee allowing the game to be played. The action went equally in both directions but Trafford made the first breakthrough. Loose ball at a lineout ended up somehow in the arms of the Trafford prop coming through on the wrong side, he charged towards Miles Brown who made a gutsy block but alas got knocked back by the momentum, so Didsbury found themselves 7-0 down.

Didsbury bounced back, pressure again from the kick off saw them make ground upfield. They took a move straight from the training ground when they were awarded a penalty that took them into the opposition 22. Kicking to touch then winning the ball cleanly, the driving maul was set-up and executed brilliantly to allow Jack Tabor to split off the back and score bringing us back to 5-7.

The second try was worked in a similar fashion. Edward O’Loughlin takes credit for putting them in the right area of the pitch, gaining 70m with elusive running only to stumble after a desperate ankle tap yards short of the line. This time winning an opposition lineout the maul got stopped, but after a couple more phases of play a gap opened up and it was Tabor again who scuttled under the defence to score his second between the posts. The conversion for Miles Brown was a formality and Didsbury carried this 12-7 lead to the half time whistle.

Didsbury played the second half downhill, but it wasn’t plain sailing. The game strategy was to keep in the Trafford half and this they did. Shaun Blair added an extra dimension to the line-out, this being the height dimension. He rose majestically, lifted by Oskar Smith and Patrick McLaughlin to snatch a couple of critical throw ins from his opponent.

Not exactly a turning point - as Didsbury already had the lead at this point - but an epiphany of self-belief came shortly into the second half. Feisty centre George Robb used all his playmaking guile first to draw play away from the concentrated crowd in the North Stand, across to the leeward side of the field by the Mersey embankment. Then through sleight of foot, and maybe slight of mouth, young Robb drew six Trafford players away from their defensive duties in their own 22 that surely opened the door for Martin Kavanagh to power through the gap and add 5 more points to the scoreboard for 17-7.

Trafford rallied shortly afterwards and it was luck or misfortune, depending on who you support, that gave them the chance to come back with a converted try. Their kick-off was allowed to bounce and went to touch, giving great field position. Shortly after, Didsbury were penalised and defended the subsequent penalty lineout yards from their own goal line. Trafford were quicker on a loose ball from the back of the ruck and managed to pop through Didsbury’s scrambling defence on the fringe of a ruck. The ensuing 17-14 scoreline kept the game honest and interesting.

Adrenaline flowed. Passions rose. Indiscipline crept in. Tempers flared. There was a coming together in the middle of the park, not of a romantic nature. The man in red showed red and two lads who had had the closest embrace left the field but not hand in hand. Ok, back to Rugby.

At the restart, Didsbury won the scrum (their scrummaging was incredible today). Working it from a central position, more fantastic rucking and recycling and Patrick McLaughlin brought it down the blindside to score a try. Disallowed because of a headcount error, the same play was on the cards. Second restart, same direction, same great commitment to retain the ball at the breakdown. One more phase allowed the link up between forwards and backs, and it was Max Blackburn who finished the job, scoring a try under the posts. Brown converted again and Didsbury opened up a safety margin at 24-14.

While they still had some fight, Trafford brought the game back to Didsbury. Awarded a penalty in the 22, Trafford opted to run it rather than kick. They adopted the same obfuscation and trickery with dummy runners and crossing as they had in the dying moments three weeks ago, which had levelled the score to salvage themselves a draw. They say an elephant never forgets, but neither did super-mobile tighthead prop Oskar Smith. He recognised the same runners, same feints and same ultimate ball carrier Trafford employed last outing. This time Oskar snotted their runner 5yards short of the line, collected a loose ball from behind the next ruck and by the time he had offloaded out the back door to a formidable RJ Watson they were at the half-way line and out of danger.

With a few minutes left on the clock, Didsbury kept control and composure and back to the gameplan to hold field position. One more penalty awarded, uncharacteristically but maturely kicked to goal stretched the margin and the final score ended 27-14 to the home team.

After the game proud Didsbury captain Patrick McLaughlin was available for comment. “Everybody knew their jobs and everybody played well.” He reflected on the excellent work rate and intelligent kicking game.

Didsbury Barbarians U16 now advance to their second final in two years where they will face Blackburn RFC, who succeeded against Littleborough today in the other semi-final.