FOLLOWING Douglas’s victory before Christmas, Ramsey and Vagabonds under-15 and u16s rugby team was looking to even the score when the two teams met at Mooragh Park recently.
With the anticipated snow not materializing the game went ahead but the blustery conditions were a challenge to both sets of players that meant much good work was undone in a moment.
It was Douglas that opened the scoring when pressure near the hosts’ line forced them to concede a penalty from which Stevie Bradley bulldozed over the line. As was to be the case for the rest of the game, the conditions got the better of the kicker and the conversion was missed.
Douglas tried to control the game through their forwards, for whom Liam Kirkpatrick and Dominic Long stood out, but Ramsey/Vagas worked hard to ensure any loss of possession was punished by a loss of yards with some hard-running coupled with a strong kicking game.
Towards the end of the first half this allowed them to move into Douglas’s 22 and, again from a penalty, Ollie Morris went over for the try to tie the game at 5-5. Soon after Joe Bowes, on his return from a non-rugby injury, had a chance to put Douglas back in the lead but the ball was knocked from his grasp as he went to ground it and the scores remained tied at half-time.
The second half saw more of the same with both sides trying to build phases and gain territory but the weather continued to make flowing rugby difficult. The defence on both sides looked like it was going to hold out but with 10 minutes remaining the hosts managed to get close enough to the try line for Ramsey’s Matty Clague to drive over for what proved to be the decisive score.
With the wind getting the better of the conversion 10-5 was the final score and, with one game each so far, the next meeting between the sides should see a full-on encounter as they battle for local bragging rights.
As for man of the match, there were some strong performances from the usual suspects in Cheshire squad members Duncan Wilson and James Maddrell, try scorer Matty Clague and Scott Kneale combined well in the hosts’ backline.
Joe Bowes performed well in his first match for some time and Dom Long’s game continues to develop but, with strong running and non-stop effort throughout, my vote goes to another Cheshire squad player, Douglas’s Liam Kirkpatrick.
Up next for Douglas is a Cheshire Junior Plate encounter at Wirral against Caldy in early February. The two sides met in a friendly earlier in the season which Caldy won but Douglas have certainly progressed since that game.
This improvement plus a few players returning from injury, who did not feature then, means that they are certainly capable of causing an upset.