Tarleton beaten by Aldwinians

After last week’s one-point defeat Tarleton entertained high Flying Aldwinians at Carr Lane on Saturday.

It was Aldwinians who came out of the blocks the fastest, playing some good flowing rugby and passing the ball out of the tackle as often as possible.

Tarleton, as usual, had to put in a lot of tackles in an attempt to stop the Aldwinian backs crossing the whitewash. However, after 10 minutes too many Tarleton forwards were sucked in to a maul and with quick hands Aldwinians shipped the ball across the line to score in the corner - the kick was missed but Aldwinians led 5-0.

Tarleton eventually got their hands on the ball and for the next 10 minutes they were looking for chinks in Aldwinians armour. From an attacking line-out the ball was fed along the line to George Skofic who almost made the line but he managed to flip a pass out to Jamal as he fell and a good try was scored under the post. Aiden Miller added the extras and Tarleton led 7-5 with 22 minutes gone.

Tarleton were then put on the back foot as Aldwinians mounted attack after attack which almost resulted in a try but the Tarleton defence held firm again and were awarded a relieving penalty to clear their lines. Unfortunately the penalty didn’t make touch and the Aldwinians winger and full-back and winger combined to run the ball through the Tarleton defence that wasn’t set up and score an unconverted try thet put them 10-7 ahead.

Tarleton upped the tempo of their game and a great break by Archie Skofic saw him pass the ball inside to George Skofic who gain nearly made the line and from the maul the ball was killed by Aldwinians and Tarleton were awarded a penalty. This hit the upright and so at half time the score was 10-7 to Aldwinians.

Tarleton started brightly after the break and the pack won a ball against the head and Archie Skofic picked up at number eight and charged down the pitch before flipping a well-timed pass to Liam Thompson who beat two Aldwinian defenders and dived full length under a 3rd tackler to score in the corner, Tarleton now led 12-10.

Tarleton continued to impress and were playing a game to match Aldwinians pace and effort and the turning point of the match was when a Tarleton looped pass was intercepted in midfield by an Aldwinian centre who ran the length of the pitch to score under the posts, the conversion was good and Aldwinians took the lead back - 17-12.

Tarleton came back in this end to end  match and a good break by Chris Naish supported by Archie Skofic almost saw them score again - the last ditch tackle by the Aldwinian full back stopped the move but Tarleton were denied the chance to go over as the full back lay on the ball preventing quick release.

A penalty was awarded and the full back was sin binned. Tarleton took the three points on offer to bring the score back to 17-15.

Being a man down Aldwinians changed their game plan a bit and tried to keep the ball in the forwards a good rolling maul in the Tarleton 22 was deemed to have been brought down by the ref and Aldwinians slotted the penalty to increase their lead 20-15.

Tarleton seemed to tire visibly in the last 10 minutes and they had, not for the first time this season, tackled themselves into the ground. During this period Aldwinians ran in two further tries through their forwards and converted one of them to make the final score 32-15 to Aldwinians.

This was another good display by Tarleton but that elusive first win still eludes them. They are away next week against fellow strugglers Heaton Moor and have to target this game for a win.

The Second XV were also at home in a local derby against Ormskirk 2nds. In a very close encounter Tarleton just edged the game 19-15 and took the points that should move them up the table.