The 1st XV made the short trip to Congleton last Saturday for another crucial encounter in South Lancashire / Cheshire 3. With both league points and local pride on the line, Chapel Captain Ed Meyrick selected an extremely strong squad to face a team that caused them a few problems when the 2 sides faced each other back in November.

The front 5 was unchanged from the win over Parkonians the previous week, with Jim Bowbeer and Mike Cottam joining Jon Griffin in the back row. In the backs, Matt Bowden returned at inside-centre alongside Lee Cagna, with Kristian Clowes starting at full-back between Ed O’Hare and Jed Wragg on the wings. Ian Lightfoot, Dom Moss, and Ethan Gould were named as replacements to give Meyrick plenty of options from the bench.

After weeks of grinding out victories in poor conditions, Chapel were delighted to finally play in conditions that were ideal for running rugby, with the Congleton pitch providing a firm and dry surface for the contest.

Chapel started the game well, and were looking to take on their opponents up front in order to provide quality possession for the three-quarter line. The front row of Mark Concar, Wayne Scott, and Paul Watson were performing brilliantly in the scrums, winning their own ball comfortably and disrupting Congleton’s possession. The Congleton Number 8 was being forced to break from every scrum with some fine tackling from Meyrick allowing the back row to steal possession on the ground.

The first try came after only 10 minutes from a Chapel scrum just inside the Congleton half. Cottam broke and passed to Meyrick who released Wragg in space on the right hand side of the field. The home defence covered across to make the tackle but Wragg offloaded superbly leaving Griffin a simple run in to score beneath the posts. Clowes converted to increase Chapel’s lead to 7-0. The second try soon followed after some good work from the pack forced a Congleton error and Andy Fyffe capitalised by dancing through the defensive line to score, with Clowes again converting.

Congleton began to get into the game and won a penalty that they kicked deep into Chapel territory to try and get their rolling maul going and threaten the visitors’ line. However, the Chapel forwards prevented them from gaining any momentum with Dan Martin leading the defensive effort against the drive.

Having finally cleared their lines, Chapel worked their way back upfield in an effort to increase their lead before half time. A couple of chances went begging before Scott took the ball up and showed great strength and determination to burrow his way over the line. It was the hooker’s first try for the 1st XV and although Clowes was unable to convert it increased the lead to 19-0. There was still time for the visitors to cross the line one more time, as Cottam appeared amongst the backs and broke through several tackles to touch down for another unconverted try and bring the half time score to 24-0.

Chapel Coach Rick Clarke warned his team not to lose concentration as they had the opportunity to improve their points difference in the second half, and the visitors didn’t disappoint. With the backs starting to run riot, the ball was swiftly passed along the line to Wragg who cut inside to notch his 4th try in 8 games since joining the club in November (conversion missed).

With Chapel already 29 points to the good the last thing the home side needed was to lose a player, however their hooker spoiled an impressive individual performance by kicking out at Meyrick leaving the referee no option but to show the red card. Before Chapel could take advantage of the extra man, the numbers were levelled up again when Watson was given 10 minutes for reckless footwork after a Congleton player had attempted to pull down a Chapel rolling maul. Despite the extra space on the pitch, neither side created many openings during the sin-bin period. Chapel looked like they were going to score after driving the opposition forwards back over their try-line, but the Congleton Number 8 did extremely well to prevent the ball from being grounded.

However, as soon as Chapel returned to full strength they extended their lead when good hands from Cottam and Clowes created an easy touchdown for Lee Cagna (conversion missed). Two good cover tackles from the Congleton full-back – one on either wing – prevented Ethan Gould and Wragg from adding further scores, and another opportunity was lost when Mark Mcenaney was adjudged to have passed the ball slightly forwards. With 10 minutes to go the 7th try did arrive, courtesy of Watson who found himself with 1 defender to beat and chose the most direct route to the line, ploughing over for his 5th try of the season – an impressive record for a tighthead prop.

The hosts continued to search for a consolation score, and with 5 minutes remaining the Chapel defence didn’t deal with an ‘up-and-under’ and the ball bounced into the Congleton winger’s arms for him to ground the ball for an unconverted try. Determined to finish the match on a high, Chapel were keeping the ball alive and looking for a final score to end the match. The chance came when they won opposition ball at the front of the lineout and eventually Meyrick pounced for try number 8 of the afternoon in injury time. Clowes’ conversion brought the score to 46-5 and sealed a good afternoon’s work for the visitors.

Meyrick commented after the game “this was a good, positive performance with the backs showing impressive pace and handling skills. Selection is now becoming very difficult and I am expecting a massive turnout at training this week to make it even harder”.

The next 1st XV fixture is at Station Road this Saturday when Helsby will be the visitors. Helsby’s lowly league position should be ignored as they have given Chapel 3 very tough games already this season, particularly when the sides met at Station Road in December for a Cheshire Plate match. They also ran league leaders Ramsey very close a few weeks ago and will not just be coming to make up the numbers this weekend. Kick off is 2-15pm and all spectators are very welcome. The matchday is being kindly sponsored by Davenport Joinery [ www.davenportjoinery.co.uk ] and JMS Interiors [ www.jmsinteriorslimited.co.uk ] – the club would like to thank both sponsors for their support.

The 2nd XV shook off the disappointment of the cup exit and blew Crewe and Nantwich 4th XV away at Station Road with a 74-10 success. 2nd XV Captain Garry Cottam praised a good team effort and thanked the 3 Chapel players who stepped up to play for the opposition to make sure the game went ahead with each side playing with 15. Australian Daniel Poignand caught the eye for Chapel with an amazing 6 tries in the match. The 2nd XV are back at Whitchurch next week to play their 4th XV in a Miller Homes League game.

Holmes Chapel RUFC would like to thank 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.

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