Rugby: Wolves remain in the race for second

Saturday 21st. April 2018
North 1 West
Carlisle 19 -21 Wilmslow

Quite how the Wolves managed to leave the field smelling of violets and roses and all things floral after this one will remain a mystery for a time to come but the four points they eventually acquired kept them in the race for a second place league finish and play off against second placed Driffield in North 1 East. They'll have to be much better though than they were in this game to have any chance of upsetting Vale of Lune at The Memorial Ground next week.

The Wolves were outplayed for much of this game by a vibrant Carlisle outfit which looked much better than its eleventh place league position and which had sufficient chances to win with something to spare. Indeed a neutral observer could easily have assumed that it was the home side chasing for a second place finish and the visitors who had just escaped from a relegation threat. All season the Wolves front five had been masters of the set piece but with loose head Jordan Ayrey absent and tight head Robert Taylor having to come off injured after about twenty minutes, their scrum was subsequently just dismantled and even No. 8 Alex Taylor couldn't tidy up the muck that a retreating airborne front row was shovelling back to him. With such bountiful possession Carlisle scored three tries for a 19 - 7 lead after about sixty minutes and looked well set to add to their tally.

It all changed though when Wilmslow tight head Johnny Evans, now an undergraduate at Glasgow University, who had answered his club's call in its hour of need, also had to depart injured and the game resorted to uncontested scrums. It was tough on Carlisle but gave Wilmslow just the lifeline it needed, which was fully exploited by the dynamic duo of Sean Street and James Coulthurst. From a static scrum, right winger Coulthurst received a pass which enabled him to cut inside, to break the Carlisle defensive line and to off load to the ever aware Street for a try which had Wilmslow back in the mix at 19 - 14. Minutes later from another uncontested scrum, Coulthurst broke on the outside from his own twenty two. Alas, he just doesn't have the sheer pace to outstrip everyone and he was caught from behind with the try line in sight but he does have the nous to ensure such opportunities are not wasted. On this occasion his boot laces high offload in the tackle to Street was too much even for him to take but the position had now been set up.

From the scrum, Carlisle were unable to get out of their twenty two and scrum half James Telford was forced to kick for touch which just gave the ball back to the Wolves. Whatever their scrummaging problems had been, there were none in the lineout where Hewitt and Pemberton ruled. Hewitt's catch sent them on their way again and they were soon laying siege to the Carlisle line. A series of Wilmslow scrums were all effectively defended until in the last play of the game Street released the ball to his backs and there was full back, Ben Day, now in his dotage as a first team player, still doing what he has being down through all the long years, sniffing out where the gap might be, taking a flat pass at pace and slicing through to score under the posts. He's done it so often before, even at Carlisle, same spot, same end on the banks of the Eden and same result, well not quite, I don't recall him ever being hugged just as much by his rapturous team mates. How sick of him, those Carlisle players who had seen it all before must have been. MacCallum converted and the Cumbrian referee Tyrone Castles promptly blew for no side.

The opening score had gone to Carlisle on the quarter hour when at least the sixth attempt they forced a wheeling scrum over the Wilmslow line for a scruffy touchdown from their veteran hooker Tom Graham. At that stage the Wolves had barely been outside their own twenty two. It wasn't that they hadn't had the chances but a combination of dropped passes, forward passes and clearing kicks returned with interest all just passed the initiative back to the home side. Carlisle's lead didn't last long. From the restart they forced the Wolves to put the ball in touch on around the ten metre line, won the lineout but then carelessly aloud the ball to boomerang off one of their midfield player's chest straight into the arms of Alex Taylor, who is not renowned for eschewing such trifles. He set off, dragging a whole posse of Carlisle defenders, trying to bring him down, in his wake before offloading to Street, who found himself clear. MacCallum converted and it was tied up at 7-7.

The remainder of the half was undistinguished. Neither side seemed able to build any phases or even look like scoring, the game was littered with errors and Mr. Castles was kept busy blowing his whistle for all manner of minor infringements. By the strict letter of the law he was probably correct most of the time but you also felt pernickety when maybe just waving play on may have helped the flow of the game.

The second half was not long underway when Carlisle full back Andy Glendinning produced a scorching break from his own twenty two, which should have produced much more than a wayward pass going across the touch line. No matter, they then hoovered up a mistimed Wilmslow clearing kick and in a broken field the ball eventually made its way to left winger Chris Hubbersley for a clear run in and a 12-7 lead.

There was a brief interlude from the home side's pressure when Wolves centre Ethan Harding was up to steal the ball in midfield and to release Alex Taylor for another impressive drive. From a messy scrum, Street was able to get the ball to No.6 Seb Pemberton, who knocked on in the act of scoring.

Carlisle's backs soon had another chance and Hubbersley was put away again for what looked a certain score until referee Castles called play back for a forward pass, not a popular decision with the home supporters. The third try though was not long delayed. Despite being awarded the scrum, the Wolves were shoved off it and it was reset with a Carlisle put in. Another shove followed, Lee Brumpton broke from No. 8, drew the defence and then slipped the ball to his scrum half James Telford to dart in. You couldn't say that it hadn't been coming!

The departure of Evans saved the Wolves from any further mauling at scrum time but Carlisle could still have won it if they'd kicked a simple penalty for 22-14 with ten minutes still to play. They conspired to miss it and paid the price as Street, Coulthurst, Taylor and Day pounced to grab an unlikely win for the Wolves.

Rick Jones was extremely proud of his team afterwards. He said "It wasn't our finest performance of the season by a long way and Carlisle played really well. The boys had to graft right to the end but they are a very close team, their belief in themselves is 'unbelievable' and they will always back themselves to win even if it's the last play of the game. May be the nerves and tension of it all got the better of us at times but it's said that good teams can win ugly when they have to."

He added "This week's match against Vale of Lune now becomes the biggest in the club's history. We have already achieved the club's best finish in over thirty seasons of league rugby and if can raise our game once again, the rest will take care of itself!"

It'll be a formidable task for the Wolves to beat this season's league winners in this rearranged game. It'll be the Wolves most important game in ten years. Unfortunately it also clashes with the Junior Section's annual tournament so the matter of pitch allocation has still to be sorted out. There was talk afterwards that this game may have to be played on the Jim Evison Field. It would be perverse if an hour and a half can't be found for a game of this magnitude to be played on the proper pitch.

Ben Day wins it at the last.

Match report by David Pike.

Tags:

Rugby, Wilmslow Rugby Club