Tuesday, 18 November 2008By Bob Wilkinson
Clitheroe won their third league game in 4 matches when they met Hawcoat Park last Saturday at Littlemoor. The visitors are new into the league this year and travelled the long way down from Barrow, only to probably wish they not bothered. Not only were they soundly beaten, they had to endure England’s dire performance on the big screen later befor3e departing for Cumbria.
Captain Graves’ team is coming back to full strength following weeks of player unavailability due to injury and holidays and it certainly showed. The forwards were extremely effective in creating the platform for good quick ball and the backs executed beautifully when ever the ball came their way.
Only 5 minutes had elapsed when Clitheroe really started to put the visitors under pressure. A break down the left from centre Callaghan create4d the go-forward ball and quick hands and a somewhat accidental miss-pass saw captain Graves crash over under the sticks. Lafranceschina (Kino to his mates) slotted the conversion and Clitheroe were off to the start they wanted.
Hawcoat really didn’t seem to have “got off the bus†and were struggling to find either territory or possession. Although this was down to them not seeming prepared it was also down to the great work rate that Clitheroe were displaying. Good quick rucks were creating the kind of platform that Dan Smudge Smith at scrum half could normally only dream about and fly half Watson was relishing the time and space to set his backs free. It wasn’t long before Clitheroe were adding more points, this time from the boot of Kino, knocking over a simple penalty from 25 out following an offside decision.
After 25 minutes, the whitewash was crossed once more, Paul Callaghan again making a real nuisance of himself with his direct and no-nonsense running and slipping out of numerous tackles to add to his league tries tally. Kino missed the conversion but managed to slot a penalty shortly afterwards to push Clitheroe into an 18-0 lead going into half time. The Maroon & Golds were showing what they can really do when the game plan is executed and Hawcoat Park weren’t at the races in the first half.
Even better was to come in the 2nd half. The backs really let loose and further tries came from centre and vice captain Bartle, full back Kino and scrum half Smith. Bartle showed wonderful balance in deceiving the opposing defence, Kino’s long effort was just rewards for a great game and Smith’s try down the left was a beauty! The odd man out in the try scoring records for the 2nd half was forward Aaron Atkinson who starting at second row made a typical bulldozing run for the tryline and smashed all in front of him to score a splendid try. Kino converted 3 of the 4 tries in the 2nd half to bring his personal points tally to 19 and was surely close to winning the man of the match. However, that went to centre Paul Callaghan for his direct running and robust tackling and he graciously accepted the award of swift pint in the clubhouse later on.
So, Clitheroe are really starting to fire and must keep this momentum going to continue to ascend the league table. The next opponents are Hutton away, a team unbeaten after 7 games and who lie top of the table. A win will be no mean feat against them but based on current form and a growing belief of what it possible, there are a few people who might just rate Clitheroe’s chances of an upset quite highly.
