There are some parallels between England`s World cup campaign and our start to the season – we both endured a difficult opening game, we`ve both subsequently started to hit our straps, hat tries of tries are being scored and we both have a difficult game against near neighbours to look forward to next weekend.

This week we welcomed Burnage to Headlands Rd, with both sides suffering late withdrawals. In the end we ran out comfortable winners but the score doesn`t tell the whole story as it was really not until the last quarter that we able remove any doubt about the final result.
That said, we dominated both possession and territory throughout and it was down to our impatience that we allowed Burnage to keep in touch.
Nevertheless, this was another strong team performance - the forwards dominated in all areas with the front row of Ian K, Alex H and Matt F dominating the tight and contributing well in the loose, the 2nd row veterans Langers and Nev making full contributions, and the back row of Greeny, Jack Simms (on his debut) and Steve Hill combining very well.
In the backs, Matt B and Steve Pearson (who clearly has potential!) pulled the strings from half back, Dan Eccles showed his versatility in the centre following 3 games in the back row and Mike Pearson showed a very impressive turn of speed on the wing.
Henri, continuing his good form, opened the scoring, then Dan Eccles and Jack Simms both ran in from far out, Dan added his 2nd and Martin Shelley followed up Matt`s box kick to bring about a 38-10 half time score. In the second half, Greeny scored from almost the opening passage of play, Nick Wroe broke through a number of tackles, Dan completed his hat-trick, the Pearsons then shared the next 3 tries before Greeny ran himself into the ground in finishing off the scoring with a try out wide. With Steve P converting 7 of the tries, the Pearson brothers accumulated a total of 29 points!
We know we`ll face a very tough afternoon next Saturday – we know that only our A game will suffice.
RJH