Holmes Chapel 35 v 0 Mossley Hill

Holmes Chapel 35 - 0 Mossley Hill

Holmes Chapel 1st XV returned to winning ways in style last Saturday with a convincing defeat of Mossley Hill at Station Road. Paddy Kennedy returned to the starting line-up at outside centre, and the back-row trio of Mike Cottam, Jim Bowbeer, and Jon Griffin were re-united for the first time in 2 months. Following 2 heavy defeats in recent matches, Chapel were determined to get their season back on track against the vistors from Liverpool.

Chapel took the lead after only 3 minutes, when Mossley Hill were penalised and Doug Canavan slotted the 3 points to put the home side ahead. The front row of Jim Stevens, Al Goodwin and David Flood was competing well against their strong and experienced Mossley Hill counterparts to ensure that Chapel won a steady supply of possession. The first try of the day came on 15 minutes when the ball was spread wide to Troy Johnson who showed superb pace to cut in from his wing and beat 2 defenders. His offload was hacked through by Kennedy, and Canavan won the race to the loose ball and touched down over the try-line. He added the conversion himself to put Chapel 10-0 up. 10 minutes later, the lead was extended after good work from both forwards and backs led to a try for Kennedy. Johnson had done well to chase a kick and tackle the Mossley Hill full back over his own try-line. This led to a 5-metre scrum, from which the pack won clean ball for scrum half Ed Meyrick. He whipped out a pass to Andy Fyffe who sent a perfect miss-pass to Kennedy, creating the space for him to score under the posts. Canavan's conversion made the score 17-0. Shortly before half-time, some strong charges from the forwards led to Mossley Hill conceding another penalty; Canavan made no mistake to make the score 20-0 at the interval.

The game was killed off ruthlessly by Chapel with 2 tries in the first 3 minutes of the second half. From the restart, Stevens took a great catch and set up a ruck to allow quick ball for the backs. Fyffe and Captain Matt Bowden combined to set Kennedy up for his second try of the game. Although the try was unconverted, Chapel now held a comfortable 25-0 lead. It got even better for the home side when they secured posession from a scrum on half-way, and the backs again showed good pace to send Lee Cagna on his way to the try-line. He went over for the fourth try of the match to make the score 30-0 (conversion missed). Mossley Hill continued to make every effort to break down the Chapel defence, but Mark Mcenaney led the defensive effort to keep the vistors at bay. Chapel were starting to disrupt the Mossley Hill line-out thanks to the powerhouse lifting of Darren Saffill, and this led to a break from Bowbeer that took the home side back into the opposition half. A speculative kick into the Mossley Hill 22 looked to pose no danger, until fantastic work from Ed O'Hare (on as a replacement for Johnson) took advantage of hesitation in the defence to let Kennedy go over for his hat trick with 10 minutes to go. Mossley Hill did come close to scoring a consolation try but Cottam was able to prevent the ball from being grounded and the score remained at 35-0.

This victory saw Chapel climb to 4th spot, and they face another tough test next week when they travel to 5th place Marple. Chapel narrowly defeated the Stockport side earlier this season so will expect another close encounter. However, they should enter the game full of confidence after Saturday's result. The 2nd XV will be taking on Heaton Moor 3rd XV away, kick off 1.30pm.

Holmes Chapel RUFC would like to thank Pochins, Wymans, and AUF Leasing for their continued support.