Holmes Chapel 54 - 10 Parkonians

Parkonians visited Station Road last Saturday in yet another ‘must-win’ game for Holmes Chapel 1st XV. A few weeks earlier, Chapel had snatched victory from the Wirral outfit in a game that Parkonians could easily have won and skipper Ed Meyrick would have been happy to settle for another narrow victory as Chapel looked to keep the promotion dream alive. As it turned out, the home side far exceeded his expectations, with all 18 squad members playing their part in a memorable performance featuring 8 tries. Chapel were also holding their annual ‘Ladies Day’, and a good sized crowd were in attendance to enjoy the match and the glorious weather.

Andy Fyffe kicked off for Chapel and immediately the pack put their opposition under pressure, forcing a scrum in the Parkonians half of the field. After only 3 minutes, Jim Ainsworth powered over the line for a try – converted by Kristian Clowes – that should have settled any pre-match nerves in such an important match. However, Parkonians responded to this early setback well and after narrowly missing with a penalty attempt, they narrowed the deficit with a well worked try (unconverted) after their scrum-half spotted an overlap on the right hand side of the field.

Chapel worked their way back into the Parkonians half with some strong drives forward by Paul Watson and Darren Saffill. From an attacking lineout in a good position, Jon Griffin won the ball and hooker Wayne Scott broke through the defence and touched down under the posts. Clowes again adding the extras. This time, the visitors hit back almost immediately and scored their second try of the game through their left winger so with 20 minutes played only the 2 conversions separated the sides at 14-10.

The turning point in a very close contest came just before half time with Jed Wragg’s first try of the afternoon. Forwards Ainsworth, Watson, and Griffin combined to send the prolific winger scorching through for a crucial try. Another conversion from Clowes sent Chapel into the second half 21-10 ahead.

Chapel clinically put the match to bed within 15 minutes of the interval. With the pack applying pressure through driving mauls and short bursts forward they were rapidly approaching the Parkonians line. Watson nearly made it over the whitewash, but when he was hauled down Lee Cagna was on hand to scoop up the ball and dive over (converted by Clowes). A few minutes later, a well-worked backs move gave Wragg a one-on-one with his opposite number and the Chapel winger’s trademark sidestep gave him enough space to score in the corner (conversion missed).

Parkonians rallied, and mounted some dangerous attacks of their own but determined Chapel defence was keeping them at bay. The home try-line was threatened again when the Parkonians loosehead prop rumbled through a couple of tackles but was unable to hold onto possession. Chapel then added 2 further scores, both courtesy of Cagna breaking through in midfield and holding off last-ditch tackles to finish. Clowes converted both tries. This sealed his hat-trick and Parkonians will no doubt be sick of the sight of the Chapel centre, following his match-winning drop goal in the away fixture a few weeks ago.

With only a couple of minutes remaining and Parkonians still playing with great pride and searching for another try of their own, Fyffe intercepted in his own half and showed a neat quickstep to close in on the opposition line. Unselfishly he laid the ball off for Jim Bowbeer who saw Wragg in acres of space and provided a scoring pass for the winger to complete his hat-trick and chalk up his eighth try in 13 games for the 1st XV. Clowes knocked over the conversion to seal a magnificent 54-10 victory.

Club Coach Rick Clarke described the second half as “the best rugby we have played this season”, and Meyrick was delighted after the match, commenting “Parkonians are a very good side and not many teams score this many points past them. We now need to produce the same level of performance against Port Sunlight next week. It’s their last game of the season and they will want to end their campaign on a high note so we need to be well-prepared for what is an extremely important game”.

The equation for Chapel is now simple: win next week and promotion is secured, lose and the likelihood is they will remain in South Lancashire / Cheshire 3 next season. Anyone wishing to travel to Port Sunlight to offer their support is more than welcome.

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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.

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