Season opener

Wallasey 10 – 7 Holmes Chapel

Holmes Chapel 1st XV kicked off the new seasonwith a disappointing narrow defeat at Wallasey – the other side relegatedfrom South Lancashire & Cheshire 2 last season. Despite thescoreline, Chapel will take encouragement from the performance and the fact theyearned their first point of the new campaign albeit via a losing bonuspoint.

A mixture of opening day rustiness and dreadful conditions clearlyaffected both sides and there were far too many mistakes. Chapel and Wallaseyquickly realised that playing for territory was the correct option and bothAndy Fyffe and his opposite number kicked from hand brilliantly all afternoon. Chapel missed a penalty in the first half and the home side also struck onewide just before the break. The visitors created the better scoringchances but a few bad decisions cost them at crucial moments and Wallaseysurvived.

However, Chapel opened the scorning early in the second halfwith a try from Paul Gianassi after a slightly lucky bounce presented him witha great opportunity. The stand-in full back converted his own try to putChapel 7-0 ahead. Unfortunately, they seemed to lose concentration forjust a few minutes and this was enough for Wallasey to hit back with a try fromtheir number 8 following a series of scrums near the Chapel line. Whatturned out to be the winning score came from am excellent penalty from nearhalfway from the Wallasey outside half. Chapel struggled to regain any rhythmin their play and were unable to snatch an opening day win despite a great effortfrom all 17 players who made the trip to the Wirral.

Standout performers from Chapel included Fyffe, Dan Martin,and Dom Moss who stood in at hooker and did a fine job between Paul Watson andJohn Shuff in the Chapel front row. Although it wasn’t the startthat new skipper Mike Cottam would have wanted, the signs are there that hewill lead Chapel to an enjoyable and successful season.

The next challenge is on Saturday at Station Road as Chapel renewacquaintances with Helsby. 2 seasons ago they faced off 4 times withChapel winning each one. However Helsby improved on each occasion andwill present an extremely tough test with their physical style of play and “neversay die” attitude. Kick off is 3pm and all spectators are welcome.