Saturday 26th. November 2016
North 1 West
Wilmslow 37 – 0 St. Benedicts
Wilmslow had this game well won by the time the fog had descended to the extent that referee Elliott Lewis really had no option but to end it with just under twenty minutes of normal time remaining.
If it had been a match between two professional sides, it would never have taken place. The Memorial Ground hadn't completely thawed after Friday's hard overnight frost and St. Benedicts, as was their right, declined to play on it. The pitches on the Jim Evison Field were then inspected, found to be perfectly playable and both sides agreed to play. Shortly after 2.00pm, the wintery sun was still shining brightly but within twenty minutes the mist descended to make visibility from one side of the pitch to the other virtually impossible, never mind from one set of goal posts to the other. Referee Lewis had done his homework, however, and explained that he would start the game if that was what the players wanted but if he had to abandon it before 60 minutes were played, the score would be null and void and the game would have to be replayed at another time. Sixty minutes or longer, the score would stand and the game deemed to have been completed. The players of both sides were still undeterred and the game went ahead on that basis.
What actually happened was well nigh impossible to see clearly. Within twenty metres of the touchline, one could make out what was going on but beyond that one had to rely on what the players seemed to be saying to each other and to the occasional cheers of invisible spectators on the far side. Mostly all one could see were phantom like figures suddenly appearing and equally quickly disappearing again into the foggy gloom.
The Wolves scored after just five minutes when from a scrum, Bob MacCallum gave an inside pass to Hone Karaka coming in off his wing. He burst through a not very convincing defence and passed to centre Ethan Harding, who still had a bit to do but nevertheless made the line. Five minutes later MacCallum landed a short range penalty and this was followed by the Wolves turning over St. Benedicts at the breakdown and launching an attack on the Styal wood side. The passing and running must have been pretty good because the move ended with the spectators on that side in good voice as Max Harvey, it transpired, touched down. We had to wait another ten minutes before MacCallum kicked his second penalty and then two minutes later, full back Ben Day ran out of defence down that left hand touchline again before the final pass went to Harvey for his second try. Day still wasn't finished as he collected a speculative kick ahead by the visitors to run up the left side again, this time setting up a scoring position for Harding to get his second try. It was 30 – 0 at half time.
The Wolves then lost their shape and rhythm as St. Benedicts got into the game with a spirited revival and then Wilmslow right winger James Coulthurst suddenly emerged with the ball, sphinx like from the foggy shroud, before vanishing back into it as he raced away, totally invisible, for the Wolves fifth try. Later he explained that he'd made a sort of interception scoop on his own line, whatever that meant, and had then run the length of the pitch all alone.
The sixty minute mark was fast approaching, the referee must have been finding it difficult to judge events, conditions had worsened to become farcial and St. Benedicts knew they were never going to score anything other than a consolation, so after a few more minutes referee Lewis by common consent brought proceedings to a close. To his credit, he had handled an awkward situation extremely well.
The Wolves had their five league points to keep in touch with the league leaders. St. Benedicts good naturedly accepted the outcome on a day when they had been short handed and were in a hurry anyway to get back to Whitehaven for a social event. It was just a shame that they'd had to make a three hundred mile round trip to play in conditions which nobody could have predicted even half an hour earlier.
Match report by David Pike
