Tarleton Second XV v Thornton Cleveleys

Tarleton travelled to this match knowing that it was another ‘must win’ game, despite a few late cry-offs it was still a good squad that was available for this match.

The game began to a scrappy start and after just five minutes, from a well worked line out, the ball found its way to Rory Mitchell who sped off down the line like a man possessed and a well timed pass to Josh Watt saw him beat the last defender for pace and crash over in the corner to score.

This then was the way to pile on the points, win the ball, get it to the backs and let them run around Thornton’s defence. However, Thornton had other ideas and they pressurised the Tarleton line, missing a penalty in front of the posts and conceding a succession of penalties and free kicks in every match situation that gave Thornton a lot of the ball.

From one of these free-kicks the ball was passed to Thornton’s big No. 8 who broke a tackle and ran in from 20 yards to score, this was converted and Tarleton were 7-5 down.

For the rest of the half the only sound that could be heard was the ref’s whistle which meant that neither side could build phases and the game could not flow. This seemed to infuriate Tarleton more than Thornton and they started to play catch-up rugby and again were penalised for forward passes, off-sides and running into their own men.

Thornton looked the more likely to score and Tarleton had to defend several good attacks before they conceded another try to Thornton’s crash ball specialists from a 5mtr scrum.

At 12-5 down Tarleton were in big trouble and their inability to look for the supporting player when breaking out cost them 3 good chances to put points on the board before half-time with two man overlaps being ignored and the ball being taken into contact.

As the half-time whistle went, Tarleton, at 12-5 down needed a re-think. Keep it simple, nothing fancy and use the 15 players on the pitch was the message put out, but again, for the first 15 minutes of the half, it was the ref’s whistle that was the busiest and time began to slip away.

The Tarleton pack had been dominant in the scrum all day and when Tarleton messed up an attacking line out in the Thornton 22 the resulting scrum to Thornton was turned over and the forwards released Lee Waddell who rammed his way through the Thornton defence to score and Ben Kelly added the extras to level the scores.

12-12 and all to play for, Tarleton found their belief again and a really good back line move saw George Cook crash over in the corner for a well-worked try. This was awarded by the ref and then overturned by the opposition linesman who claimed that George’s foot was over the line.

Tarleton continued to pressurise and were awarded a penalty in the 22 for Thornton standing up in a scrum, Lee Waddell set the move and the tap penalty was flipped to a charging Dave Gordon who crossed the line taking 3 Thornton defenders with him and managed to touch the ball down for the score. Ben Kelly added the extras and Tarleton were 19-12 up.

At this point Thornton lost a prop and with no reserve the scrums became uncontested. This played into Thornton’s hands and meant they would win their own put ins and not surprisingly would use their No. 8 to pick the ball up at the base of the scrum and crash through the Tarleton defensive line. For the last 10 minutes of the match this was the case as Thornton were awarded scrum after scrum but despite this advantage they could not get through a resolute Tarleton defence and at full-time Tarleton had won the victory.

In a very patchy game this was a poor performance by Tarleton and they were thankful to come away with the win. Their next match is home against Preston Grasshoppers and they need to up their performance for this game if they are to keep their sights on winning the championship.