October 17th 2009 - Hoylake RUFC 21 - Warrington RUFC 14

After their less than successful start to the season, this was a game which Warrington needed to win and should have won. Unfortunately, Hoylake proved a little too strong up-front and although Warrington gave total commitment, they gifted the Wirral side three penalties, which eventually proved to be a winning margin in a game which saw both sides score two tries..

The Hoylake pack demonstrated their dominance in the opening exchanges and the pressure was only relieved when Jones, Warrington’s senior back, intercepted and put in an excellent clearance kick. This spurred the Warrington pack to the first of three strikes against the head but any advantage was wasted when Hoylake’s classy stand-off made a telling break and forced a penalty which he kicked.

Warrington replied with an excellent try when Jones fielded a kick ahead on the left wing and the ball was flashed along the back line to Rickard who made ground before handing on to Mike Leigh, playing only his second first team game. The ex-colt still had much to do and he used the touch line well to round the defence and eventually cut inside to touch down between the posts. Newans made no mistake with the conversion. Hoylake came back with their second penalty to make the half time score 6-7.

The opening period of the second half saw Hoylake back on the front foot and they scored their first try when their stand-off saw space out wide and put in a clever kick which was caught by their centre, who scored. The conversion attempt hit the post. The home side made amends with a penalty ten minutes later. They went further ahead when they achieved a rare strike against the head in the Warrington 22 and their right centre drilled though a gap to touch down under the posts.

Warrington had the last word when substitute Guest broke through two tackles to power his way over. Unfortunately, even with the Newans’ conversion, Warrington were still a converted try adrift and even though they controlled the closing stages of the match, they were unable to break through a strong Hoylake defence.