Holmes Chapel 18 - 13 Ramsey

Holmes Chapel 1st XV faced Ramsey last Saturday in another must-win encounter at Station Road. The men from the Isle of Man have led the promotion race in South Lancashire / Cheshire 3 since the first couple of weeks of the season and only dropped points when they were narrowly beaten at Linley and held to a draw at Knutsford. Chapel Captain Ed Meyrick kept changes to a minimum from the side that had won at Linley the previous week, however Darren Saffill was drafted into the second row to bolster the set pieces, and Matt Bowden returned at inside-centre.

Ramsey kicked off with the wind behind them in sunny conditions, with the Station Road pitch having held up well following the rain during the week. The opening minutes were fought out in the middle of the pitch before Chapel started to push forward and got themselves in position to launch attacks at the opposition line. Forcing a 5-metre scrum by charging down a clearance kick led to the first points of the game when the Ramsey back-row broke early and allowed Kristian Clowes to kick Chapel 3-0 ahead.

After this early breakthrough, Chapel were then forced onto the back foot as Ramsey went on the attack with their outside half distributing the ball superbly. Chapel’s tackling was excellent but eventually the visitors managed to force their way through and went 7-3 up with a converted try. The home side were determined to hit back immediately and worked their way back into opposition territory. A series of strong runs from the pack stretched the Ramsey defence who were making tackles but giving away penalties as they tried to slow down possession (which also led to their scrum half being sin-binned for repeatedly killing the ball). Meyrick sensed blood and told Andy Fyffe to kick for the corner rather than go for the posts, and his forwards repaid him by rumbling a maul over the line for Paul Watson to ground the ball. The conversion was missed but the home side had edged in front at 8-7.

Before half-time the game swung back Ramsey’s way and they finished the opening period in the lead. Having already gone close with a long-range penalty attempt, they were rewarded for a good spell of pressure with another penalty – this time much nearer to the posts. The outside half made no mistake and the teams turned round with the score at 10-8 to the visitors. To make matters worse, Chapel were dealt a further blow when Meyrick was forced to leave the field with an injury.

In the second half the game continued to be played at a fierce intensity with neither side prepared to give an inch. The next chance for points came when Chapel were awarded a penalty inside the Ramsey half. Jon Griffin, standing in for Meyrick, continued the tactic of kicking penalties to the corner rather than going for goal and the forwards drove the ball on again with Watson controlling the maul expertly and touching down for his second try. The conversion was unsuccessful leaving the score at 13-10 to Chapel.

Ramsey showed why their results have been so impressive this season by going on the offensive straight from the kick-off and winning a penalty within range of the posts. This was converted to bring the scores level at 13-13 and everything still to play for.

Chapel knew that a draw would be of little use and continued to press for a winning score. Another close-range lineout nearly led to a try when Jim Bowbeer got over the line but the ball was held up. Despite this, Chapel were still deep in Ramsey half and after a couple of rumbles forward by the pack the ball was given to Bowden on a crowded blindside. He rolled back the years with a short burst forward and bounced out of the attempted tackle to reach out and place the ball over the whitewash. Clowes went extremely close with the tough conversion but it just drifted wide of the posts. Nevertheless, Chapel had clawed back the lead with around 15 minutes remaining.

Ramsey threw everything into attack as they searched for a try that could have given them the chance to snatch victory. However, some desperate defence from the home side proved strong enough to keep the visitors at bay and when Chapel were awarded a penalty on the halfway line, Fyffe jubilantly booted the ball into touch to end the match.

This result takes Chapel to top spot in the league, and although Prenton and Ramsey have both played a game less they have to play each other twice. This means that Chapel’s destiny is in their own hands with only 2 games remaining.

Coach Rick Clarke was quick to warn his players about complacency: “We haven’t won anything yet and both Parkonians and Port Sunlight will be extremely tough games. We only just beat Parkonians a few weeks ago and Sunlight caused us all sorts of problems when we played them at the start of the season. Having said that, it was a great performance today.”

Chapel’s attention now turns to the RFU National Plate Quarter Finals at Bramley Phoenix on Saturday. The Yorkshire 3 side are flying high in their league and will present formidable opposition. 2 coaches will be travelling across the M62 to cheer on the team as Chapel continue their attempt to win 3 trophies this season. They are back at Station Road on Saturday 10 April in a League game against Parkonians.

The 2nd XV thrashed Sandbach 4th XV 59-0 in the local derby at the Leisure Centre. There was a hat-trick for Matt Ambrose on his return to the club, and 2 for Pete Howard. Steve Hatton, Jack Baskerville, Joe Maddock, Simon Davies, AJ, and Chris Jones were also on the scoresheet.

Club training continues on Tuesday nights at 7pm, with Circuit Training at 8pm on Thursdays.

Holmes Chapel RUFC would like to thank club sponsors Pochin Construction, Electech, Auto Union Finance, Evadx, Tom Bagley Construction, and AWE Cheshire for their support. Please see the Sponsorship page of our website for more information on our sponsors.

www.pitchero.com/clubs/holmeschapel/?primary=theclub&secondary=sponsors