Holmes Chapel rounded off their perfect season by winning the Lighting and Building Services Plate on Saturday (2nd May 2015) against Linley and Kidsgrove. It will be the second time the club will have its name engraved onto the plate after performing excellently in the same competition in 2007. On this occasion the final took place at Eccles Rugby Club and both sides brought along numerous supporters. Holmes Chapel had already successfully vanquished Anselmians, Port Sunlight, Vale of Lune, New Brighton and Prenton on their road to final. Their opponents Linley faced Ruskin Park, Tyldesley, Manchester Medics and Bowden on their respective journey to Eccles.

Holmes Chapel have beaten Linley and Kidsgrove twice already this season but knew that this had the potential to be an entirely different fixture. Early on there was a lot of pressure from Linley (playing in Green and Yellow) and their forwards out lots of pressure around the fringes of the rucks. This pressure really showed as Holmes Chapel (playing in Blue and Gold) were giving away lots of penalties. The first score of the game came when Holmes Chapel won a penalty of their own. Captain Dom Moss sensed the nerves of his team and decided to entrust the ball into the hands of scrum half and kicker Andy Davies. Davies slotted home, taking the edge of some of the Chapel players nerves. In almost the next play top try scorer Jed Wragg broke the back line and was able to charge into the try area. Davies missed the conversion but quickly made up for it with another penalty kick. The next score of the game came when a kicked clearance from the Linley full back was caught in the wind and landed in the arms of captain Moss. Moss ran past the helpless offside players and got himself into a two on one situation with the last man in Green. He calmly popped the ball to centre Wragg just before the Linley man tried to make a tackle, taking him out of the game. Wragg scored underneath the posts. Davies, with new found confidence, showed composure to convert the try.

Linley were not prepared to make the game easy for Chapel and around the half hour mark put Holmes Chapel under lots of forwards pressure. Countless passes from the back of the ruck found a Linley forward who tested Chapels defence. This carried on until Linley had marched their way almost to the Holmes Chapel try line. Good tackling led by locks Mark McEnaney and Dan Martin pushed their opposition further back out of their 22. The game could have changed drastically when the Linley left winger received the ball in lots of space. He tried and up and under over the head of Chapel winger Joe Maddock, and was tripped. Maddock was shown a yellow card for a moment of madness that was later outshone by his excellent performance. When McEnaney broke free of the Linley defence and raced for the line, it looked almost certain that he would score. Five metres from the line he was caught and in the ensuing tackle, was able to get the ball free and to his supporting teammates. This support came from Dom Moss and he gleefully scored his second try of the game, sending the travelling Chapel supporters into rapturous applause. Andy Davies was unable to score a difficult conversion from next to the touchline and the half time whistle blew. Half time score – Holmes Chapel 30-0 Linley and Kidsgrove.

Holmes Chapel came out for the second half with Moss’ words of inspiration and calls for commitment ringing in their ears. It clearly worked as within two minutes of the kick off, Jed Wragg crossed the line for his hat-trick. Joe Maddock alleviated his earlier mistake and scored an excellent solo effort; weaving in and out of the Linley defence. Wragg scored his fourth to take Chapel within 3 points of a half century. Wragg has been prolific this season and has surely beaten the clubs record for number of tries scored in a season with 38 tries in all competitions. Replacement prop Dave Steer showed immense strength to bounce two Linley forwards out of tackles, and dropped himself over the line. Fullback Jack Cottam rounded off an excellent performance with a try and Dom Moss followed suit minutes later to score his second of the match. Inside centre Jim Moss had mainly featured in Chapel’s defence during this match but managed to top off his performance with the last try of the game. Davies converted the score and the game finished not long afterwards. Cheers from Chapels 60+ travelling supporters and players alike filled the air. Final Score – Holmes Chapel 69-0 Linley.

The winning team made their way up the steps onto the balcony. The plate was lifted and champagne sprayed amidst applause from the fans assembled on the pitch. Club president Gary Cottam had this to say after the match. “As president days like this cannot really be topped. This win means so much to the lads and rounds off a perfect season. To get to this stage as double winners when 18 months ago we were close to not existing is phenomenal. We are heading in the right direction and I really want to highlight to the players that their hard work is appreciated by everyone involved in the club and this is just the beginning of what looks set to be a really happy period in the clubs history.” Fly half Mike Lightfoot had led the back line and his instructions, passing and kicking had led to many of Chapels tries. Lightfoot was named man of the match. Holmes Chapel would like to thank the amazing support that came with us on the coach and also made their way their independently. Without your support this season, each Saturday would have been nowhere near as enjoyable and could have been the difference in many of our closer fixtures. Praise also needs to go to our opposition Linley and Kidsgrove; we would also like to wish you luck next season and thank you for three good games. Our sponsors (Pochins, AWE, Bulcon, RVM, EvadX and JK Ashbrook) definitely deserve a massive thank you as we played the final in our new kit. The guys looked fantastic and a real unit. This and many other things wouldn’t be possible without your continued help. Holmes Chapel now have a rugby tour to Southend-on-Sea (8th May-11th May) to look forward to and then a well-earned break.