Another solid performance by the rampant 1^st XV today saw them progress to their second Lancashire Plate final in consecutive seasons courtesy of a home victory over Ormskirk. The squad had been looking forward to the tie mainly due to the fact that Ormskirk is not a regular fixture, so there was some excitement at playing ‘the unknown’, and all one can hope from a Fergusonesque viewpoint is a home draw.

The thing about writing match reports reflecting upon first team performances is that they tend to border on the boring because comedy moments are fairly rare (as opposed to 3^rd team matches where they are rife and plentiful). It is therefore right and proper that the rugby itself will be described below, but the pre-match meet is also worthy of comment. It was pleasing to see the return of Chris Sutton (even if it was down to injury and unavailability) because he can be a devastating finisher. He also brought an added soupcon of style and panache to rival that of Shelley – the pair looked like a couple of rock chicks resplendent in Legoman snap-on hairdos. It’s a good job they ooze the same style and confidence on the park. Craig Buckley, on the other hand, looked like he’d just finished building sandcastles in the back yard.

And so to the match. Moor started well and had the upper hand from the kick off, recycling rucks with competence and speed allowing the backs to make good progress and yardage. The Ormskirk backs were caught offside and Martin Shelley kicked a simple penalty in front of the sticks at the clubhouse end to give Moor a 3 – 0 lead after 3 minutes. The match continued with Moor providing the early intensity and handling well, keeping the visitors pegged back in their own half. Ormskirk worked their way slowly into the match and started to recycle some of their own possession, culminating in a super break from a centres move which would have ended in a try had Shelley not tracked his man down and executed a superb smother tackle to cut him down 5 metres from the line. Ben Tumata – the ubiquitous back row – appeared from nowhere to turn over the ball and run it back at Ormskirk from deep inside his own 22. He eventually got in front of enough of his own players to set a ruck and Felipe Silva duly cleared the danger with an astute clearing kick up the short side. However, Ormskirk had now had a sniff and their confidence grew noticeably.

Another moment of danger was averted by full back, Martin Snidal. Phil Thomas, playing on the left wing, had ‘tanked’ one kick back in midfield, but botched a high ball as it bounced off his chest and into the arms of his opponent who nearly managed to offload to his support when Snidal intervened to tackle the man who knocked on. A try would have been the outcome if the pass out of contact had gone to hand. Ormskirk’s pick and drive tactics successfully completed many phases but for little yardage gain as the home defence stood solid around the fringes (all that work in training paid good dividends then!). In fact, that was to become the story of the game – excellent Moor defence snuffing out the threat of a large pack and the Ormskirk fly-half who couldn’t quite get his backs working right, against the speedy breaks of the Moor team especially off the back of a very stable scrum where Shelley ran the show. Ormskirk were once again caught offside on the quarter hour, and Shelley boomed a penalty over from 40 yards out and the lead increased to 6 – 0.

This urged Ormskirk to redouble their efforts and they started to create dangerous opportunities on both flanks as Moor were stretched and didn’t exert immediate pressure in midfield. A break on the right wing saw another knock-on from a last ditch tackle and Moor were lucky to escape without conceding points. This pressure eventually led to Ormskirk’s first, and as it turned out, only points. ‘The Jonster’, Jon Jenks, these days playing hooker, was harshly adjudged to have used his hands in the ruck whilst on the floor when he was clearly on his feet. It’s hard to tell which Superhero costume Jonny was wearing today, as he often likes to wear his trunks outside of his trousers and doesn’t care what number is on the back of his shirt – what a (super)man. Anyway, the Ormskirk fly-half slotted the penalty from the top of a chimney-stack kicking tee that used to belong to Fred Dibnah to reduce the Moor lead to three points, 6 – 3, after 22 minutes. The same lad missed a more difficult 40 yarder shortly afterwards and Moor were reduced largely to counter-attacking from deep. They did, however, do this very effectively, with some superb understanding and team-work from gathered kicks – one notable run from Silva produced a try-saving tackle on the flying scrum-half whose pass from contact just failed to go to hand.

After half an hour, Ormskirk were starting to get the upper hand when playing the ball wide but were let down by poor final passes or kick options so were unable to capitalise on the pressure they were exerting on the home outfit. On 35 minutes a midfield scrum was won by Moor and Nick Smith picked up at No 8 and swiftly ran into the large blindside gap. With support closing in the astute forward did a strange thing and kicked the ball, hoping to clear the winger’s head. He didn’t. The winger gathered the ball and then committed suicide – instead of clearing with a kick he ran across his own 22 trying to outflank the chasing Moor players only to be felled and turned over. The Moor forwards arrived in numbers and hit up a couple of times underneath the posts before Silva released Shelley. The fly-half ran a loop with Haynes and the ball ended up in the hands of Martin Snidal who bounced off three would-be tacklers to score a try straight out of Phil Butcher’s Text Book. A note on Haynes – what a nice lad! You can tell from the Milky Bar Malteser’s constant chirping and chiving that he is a wicket-keeper. He did an excellent job of acting as second referee and makes up with mouth what he lacks in… other areas. Shelley missed the conversion but Moor led 11 – 3 and were once again in the ascendancy.

Moor were now playing their best rugby so far. Ormskirk missed another penalty attempt and Moor forced a midfield scrum from the ensuing 22 drop out. Moor broke blind again and Silva chipped ahead. Shelley gathered the kick and sprinted for the line to be brought down just short. Moor then won 2 scrums but their close-range attacks were dealt with well by the home defence. From the 3^rd scrum, Nick Smith picked and went right to power over through a despairing tackle to add 5 points to the score. Shelley converted beautifully from 30 metres out on the right to give the home side an 18 – 3 lead as the half time whistle blew.