Wilmslow High School brushed St Ambrose aside, in a disjointed game of rugby, to reach the Cheshire Cup Final.
It is always difficult for a sporting team to bounce back after a significant defeat, and Wilmslow were in that position having felt the disappointment of falling at the final hurdle in the Daily Mail Cup 12 days ago. However, the top rugby side in the North needed to forgot and look towards other achievable silverware.
The Cheshire Cup is very much a priority on Roger Hancock's and Matt Bebbington's minds as it would be unfortunate for this current Wilmslow side to not pick up any trophies this season. considering the achievements which they have gained. With these achievements, comes a responsibility to show the rest of the rugby world that Wilmslow are as good as they say they are. They needed to make a statement and Roger Hancock described it as 'a statement at Fortress Wilmslow' where they are yet to be beaten this season and will remain unbeaten until the next campaign, as this was the final game to be played on the 1st XV surface.
With no squad restrictions on either team it allowed Hancock and Bebbington to experiment with a squad of 23 which included Ant Walker, Dan Thomas and Stephan Marsh who missed out on the Daily Mail squad, but Jimmy Walker and Will Batterbury didn't feature due to injury.
A very strong Wilmslow outfit started with intent, trying to show why they should have beaten Whitgift at the start of March. As usual the home side were playing fluid rugby with the backs; Jordan Chappell, Sam James and Ethan Harding ducking and diving to evade the St Ambrose defence with clever runs.
However, the first ten minutes were penalty stricken and Wilmslow were becoming frustrated with the referee because at every breakdown they seemed be penalised. Their relationship with the referee didn't improve as they were disallowed a clear try when Max Harvey had grounded the ball, not once but twice. No try was given, but Wilmslow knew how to seize an opportunity and were celebrating minutes later, as a fizzing pass from Sean Street found Olly McCall who turned the ball inside to Sam James to go over for the first try of the game. McCall's perfect conversion gave Wilmslow an early 7 point lead.
Wilmslow's performance went from commanding all aspects of the game to very slapdash and had little or no momentum. St Ambrose weren't going to give up without a battle and when their full back broke after a number of poor tackles from Wilmslow, it set up a spell of dominance for the away side.
Again the penalties were frequent and possession was changing hands as St Ambrose were unable to hold the ball in the tackle. As for Wilmslow, they were turning it over excellently at the scrums and line-outs, but sloppy handwork let them down and they didn't seem to be gelling properly.
To give Wilmslow the benefit of the doubt they did look more threatening with the ball in hand and Tom Hudson was looking to break at every opportunity after Wilmslow survived the pressure from the Altrincham school. Luke Tyrell did manage a break with a diagonal run across field which saw him pop the ball up to his team mates. Ultimately it found McCall who, with a delicate grubber kick, went to dive on the ball - in the process he looked to have injured his shoulder but the fly-half continued till midway inside the second half where he scored at the end of a very poor first period of rugby.
Before this St Ambrose grabbed a try of their own which proved to be their last points of the afternoon. A weaving run forward by the St Ambrose fullback created space for the winger to sprint home in the corner after a good exchange of passes. The conversion was missed and it seemed to trigger a wake-up call for Wilmslow.
After the restart, Ollie Lee and Luke Tyrell towered over the other 28 players on field to block the ball from a defensive clearance by St Ambrose. It took a couple of deadly passes for Wilmslow to score and give them some breathing space as McCall ended the move by diving through a gap to score.
The second half for Wilmslow was much more straight-forward as they looked lethal and didn't allow St Ambrose to advance forward with real purpose. Toby Rowe, who was named Captain for the first time this season replacing stand in Captain Ethan Harding, showed the fatal side of Wilmslow with a twisting run, as the home side started very narrow. This transformed in an instant as Luke Tyrell produced an outstanding winding run to spread Wilmslow's play which led to him scoring Wilmslow's third try of the match.
Wilmslow continued to mount pressure on St Ambrose, who were starting to fade, with a brilliant try from Sean Street on the 47th minute. After great ball carrying and speed from Oskar Hirskyji-Douglas, he offloaded the ball to Sam Rodman who powered his way towards the right. Wilmslow fashioned a chance from this as the swiftness of the back's passing allowed the ball to travel out to the left and set the platform for Street to score.
From a ruck Street produced a clinical side step to stroll over under the posts for 26-5 and McCall added the conversion to lengthen Wilmslow's advantage.
The points kept flowing for Wilmslow and Street was involved again seven minutes later as he flicked the ball perfectly to wing substitute Sam Jafarian who accelerated to the corner to finish the job. Street was having a superb game which was fitting as it was the last time he, and the rest of the current Year 13's, would participate in a game of rugby on the 1st XV pitch whilst being part of Wilmslow High School.
Wilmslow were simply outclassing another one of their local rivals. With 8 minutes to go Wilmslow scored for the final time after the Rowe wrestled his way through the frontline of St Ambrose's defence and controlled a pass which found Hudson and then the speedy Ant Walker who jogged, rather than use his lightening quick pace, to touch the ball down.
In the dying embers of the game Wilmslow did have to show their defensive qualities, which have helped them get to where they are in terms of the schools rugby hierarchy, but nothing was created from an overwhelmed St Ambrose side. With this win, Wilmslow's season is back on track with one game left of the 15-a-aside term.
The 'hangover match' is out the way said Matt Bebbington after the game and in fairness it seemed that way. A less then exquisite performance from Wilmslow, but enough to see them to a thoroughly deserved final and it will restore their confidence. They will have to wait to find out their opponents as Kings School, Macclesfield take on Lymm at the weekend.
In truth, it was a scrappy game from both sides and Wilmslow will need to improve on their performance if they are to defeat either of the semi-finalists and take home the Cheshire Cup on Thursday, 24th March.
Wilmslow: T Hudson, T Rowe (capt), E Harding, S James, J Chappell, O McCall, S Street, M Harvey, T Fantom, S Rodman, O Lee, D Thomas, L Tyrell, S Klein, O-H Douglas Replacements: S Royle, T Watts, C Hubbard, B Jones, S Marsh, S Jafarian, S Broster, A Walker
Final score: Wilmslow High School 36, St Ambrose College 5.
Wilmslow tries: James, McCall, Tyrell, Street, Jafarian, A Walker. Cons: McCall 3
Half-time: 14-5.
This match report is a guest post by Chris Heal, Wilmslow High School.
