Tarleton use one-man advantage to good effect

Tarleton Seconds were up against Ashton on Mersey this week and were disappointed when they arrived with 9 players and 25 minutes after the due kick off time. The ref deemed that the game could go ahead with 10 v 9 and two 30 minute halves.

It was clear from the first minutes that Tarleton were going to use their extra man advantage and an early break by Phil Campion saw him pass the ball to George Cook who tore down the wing to score and convert a good individual try.

From the re-start the ball was gathered and kicked forward by Tarleton and from the opposition line-out that followed the ball was spilled and Jake Abram hacked the ball forward and chased it down to score a great opportunist try.

Gary MacDiarmid was involved in several breaks and from one of these he fed the ball to a charging Aiden Wilkins who went in under the posts to put Tarleton 21-0 ahead. At this point Nikki Chinn (acting Captain) offered the opposition some extra Tarleton players so that more could be involved in the game. Although space became more limited some good inter-play between Joe Bullen and George Cook saw George over in the corner for his second try.

From the re-start George Cook caught the ball and with some outrageous dummies ran the full length of the pitch for his hat-trick (he did have to purchase a jug in the bar afterwards for this feat even though he denied all knowledge of this rule).

The next try was probably the try of the match as again from the re-start the ball was gathered deep in Tarletons’ territory and the ball was slipped to Nikki Chinn who powered through the Ashton on Mersey defence like a Springbok and ran in a great individual try from  70 yards out  despite the attention of two Ashton defenders.

The next try followed some good forward play and after 8 phases it fell to Tom Crowe to pick up at the back of a maul and crash over to score. The try after that was created by a mazey run by Martyn Moore who gave a well-timed pass to Josh Watt who ran in from 30 yards to score.

Josh scored the next try as well after yet another good break by Gary MacDiarmid who slipped him the ball after drawing all the remaining Ashton defenders in, Josh ran this in from 10 yards and then went off for a rest!

The next try was made by the forwards and although John Ball almost made the line he was stopped just short but still managed to get the ball to the supporting Brad Jones who crashed over for a good try. His conversion attempt sailed just wide of the uprights and nearly got above 2 feet off the ground!

The final try of the game came from another good run by one of the seconds younger players as Joe Hughes ran in from 30 yards out to leave Tarleton as 63-0 winners on the day.