Trentham 19 - 13 Holmes Chapel

Holmes Chapel 1st XV kicked off the new season with a visit to Trentham for their first match in South Lancashire & Cheshire 2. John Shuff made his full debut in the front row alongside Dom Moss who was playing at Hooker for the first time. Chapel were looking to make a winning start against a Trentham side who were the form team in the second half of the league last season and knew they would be in for a tough afternoon.

The visitors took the lead when great defensive work by the backs led to Trentham spilling the ball and Jed Wragg pounced to score the opening try in the corner. Full Back Doug Canavan missed the conversion but soon afterwards slotted a penalty to increase the lead to 8-0. However, the good start was undone when the home side capitalised on a succession of Chapel errors and worked their way over the line for a converted try. With Chapel down to 14 men, the Staffordshire side added a further unconverted score to make the half time score 12-8.

Chapel started the second half well and soon regained the lead. The forwards won a Trentham line out in their own half and the ball was given quickly to the three-quarters. Some great running from Lee Cagna split the home defence apart and led to Chapel’s second unconverted try of the match, edging them ahead 13-12. Trentham were causing few problems for the visitors; however another period of sloppy play, combined with a red card for Ed Meyrick, allowed the home side to go back in front through their Number 8. The excellent Jim Ainsworth was also sent to the sin-bin before the end of the game, but even with a 2 man disadvantage Chapel were causing problems for the home side and will regret a couple of botched lineouts in the closing minutes that could have led to an unlikely win. The game finished with Trentham running out 19-13 winners, with Chapel taking only a losing bonus point from a game they should have won.

Next up are Southport at Station Road on Saturday. Southport also lost on the opening day and both sides will be looking to kick-start their season with a victory. All supporters are welcome for a 3pm kick-off.

Holmes Chapel RUFC would like to thank our sponsors for their continued support – for more information on our sponsors please follow the link below:

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