Tarleton beat Didsbury 35-12

Tarleton entertained Didsbury Toc H on Saturday and started the game at pace making inroads into the Didsbury 22 but Didsburys' defence held firm.

They broke away and were stopped just outside the Tarleton 22 and Tarleton were penalised for not rolling away after the tackle. Didsbury elected for a kick at goal but pulled the ball wide of the uprights and the chance to take the lead went.

Didsbury were doing better than Tarleton at the breakdown and were coming up with the ball at most of them, with 12 minutes gone Tarleton hadn’t woken up.

Tarletons forwards started to exert their customary pressure and it was from several ‘pick and goes’ that the ball found its way to Tom Crowe who crashed over to open the scoring, Ben Walton added the extras and Tarleton were ahead 7-0.

This seemed to spur Tarleton on and they camped in the Didsbury 22 for the next 10 minutes and some good inter-play between Dave King and Mike Jones saw Mike ghost through the Didsbury defensive line to score under the posts, the conversion was good and Tarleton led 14-0.

Tarleton then had a spell where they made a lot of errors and gifted possession to Didsbury time after time but even with this amount of ball to play with Didsbury could not find a chink in Tarletons’ defensive armour.

In the last quarter leading up to half time Tarleton spurned 3 good scoring chances that should have put the game beyond Didsburys’ reach and it was with some relief that just before the half time whistle that Mike Jones went over for his second try following a good set of phases  by the pack. Ben again converted and at half-time Tarleton were 21-0 to the good.

Didsbury came out strongly in the second half and players like Ben Cromack and Tom Eckersley were putting in the tackles to thwart their attacking chances. However, on 64 minutes Didsbury won a ball in the loose and shifted it quickly along the line to score in the corner, a great kick in what were now tricky windy conditions saw the gap narrow to 21-7.

Tarleton briefly woke up and a flowing move saw at least 7 players involved in moving the ball from their own 22 up to the Didsbury line but a final loose pass that should have brought a deserved try was intercepted by the Didsbury captain who ran the length of the field to score. The kick was missed and Didsbury were now behind by 21-12.

Didsbury where in the ascendency and growing in confidence and Tarleton appeared to be in disarray. A good move by Didsbury was brought to a halt and Matt Forrest made a good break drawing the remaining two defenders to him and a well-timed pass saw Mike Jones in support who went over for his hat-trick and gave Tarleton the buffer of a 28-12 lead.

With 5 minutes left Tarleton continued to pressurise a tiring Didsbury defence and good ground made by Frankie Skofic saw the ball released at the right moment to George Skofic who scored the final try of the game, Aiden Miller made the conversion and Tarleton had won 35-12.

This was a good victory for Tarleton but leaves a lot of questions to answer regarding a twenty minute spell where Tarleton just failed to perform and almost let Didsbury back into the game.

The seconds had a record victory away at Sale beating their 3rd. team 120-20.

The First XV travel to Garstang next week whilst the Seconds entertain Aspull at home.