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Workington 0 Moor 1st XV 10 |
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Written by David N Todd
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Sunday, 08 March 2009 |
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Moor possession is key to dramatic win.
Moor travelled to Cumbria on Saturday to play Workington, conscious of the latter’s unbeaten home record and their fourth position in the league but equally determined to make it a double over the Zebras, as they narrowly beat them back at Green Lane in October. Moor’s task was made the much harder as the opposition had a much larger set of forwards and conditions underfoot were quite soft and so it was a bit puzzling that although Moor played with a near-gale at their backs in the first half, they did not use these conditions to their advantage on more occasions. Instead of kicking for position, they chose more often than not to pass the ball along the back line but with the home side playing into the strong wind, Moor still dominated position and possession. They opened the scoring after 5 minutes with a Martin Shelley penalty and 10 minutes later the same player was just wide with another attempt. Workington then had their best chance to open their account after half-an-hour, when they used their superior weight to stay camped on the Moor line for 5 minutes, but the latter withstood all that was thrown at them to successfully defended their lead. With 5 minutes if the half remaining, centre Martin Snidal made a long-range kick to touch and although the home side won the subsequent line-out, pressure by the Moor back-line resulted in centre Phil Thomas intercepting a short-range pass and he quickly accelerated to the line to crash over with three opposition players hanging on for a try, converted by Shelley.Turning around 10-0 in the lead, the small but vociferous band of Moor supporters were apprehensive about the second half given the weather and the modest score. However, their fears were to be unfounded as their side coped with the elements far better than Workington and proceeded to give a copybook demonstration on how to play in such conditions. This started from the kick-off, as Moor retained possession for over 10 minutes before the opposition had their first feel of the ball. The visitors kept the ball in their forwards and only let it out to the backs when in the home side’s half and kicking was almost non-existent, save for a few grubber kicks to touch. These tactics meant that Workington very rarely got into their stride and each time they used the wind by kicking up the pitch, there was always two or three Moor backs standing deep to field the ball and run it back into the forwards, who then proceeded to ruck and maul the ball into the opposition half, with great effect. From the point of view of a non-rugby individual, it was not at all attractive but for an aficionado, it was compelling stuff. As the half progressed, it began to look as if only a mistake by Moor would allow the home side a score and their only real chance was a long range penalty attempt that went wide. Although there was to be no further score in the half, this has to be one of Moor’s best performances of the season, especially as they have previously not coped too well against larger forwards in wet conditions.Next Saturday, Moor are at home to Wigton, k.o. 3:00 pm. |
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