Cracking match goes to the wire as Moor triumph in the last 5 minutes.

Early kick-offs often lead to confusion, and Moor had to take to the park for the 2:00 pm start with a strange looking team. After the match, Gp. Capt. Heath glanced at his phone and read a text message from Steve Lyons, received at 2:06, giving his apologies for being late but he’d mistakenly gone to Knutsford and ended up touring Tatton Park – a lovely way to spend a bright and bracing Spring afternoon – no doubt he delighted in the red deer grazing amongst the odd clump of crocus and sighed at a daffodil or two.  Bright and bracing sums up the snowy/haily pre-match precipitation – does anyone have fond memories of the goalposts blowing down at Wilmslow a few seasons back? How come Wilmslow away is turning into ‘The Day After Tomorrow’, or even Buxton away?

With a healthy (sic) bench, Moor were entitled to feel confident, but it all depended on the home team line-up. As it transpired, Wilmslow had decided to field more than a handful of Colts to give us the run-around (or so they thought). It was obviously going to be down to possession and experience versus youthful exuberance, and for once the old farts were to emerge victorious.

In the first half, Moor had the run of set plays, and the match became a pattern of Moor dominance followed by Wilmslow counter-attacks. Moor battled into a stiff breeze (on the first team pitch) and looked good value for money, but then began to operate at a strange pace instead of carefully looking after possession. Wilmslow showed some great support play and began to turn over Moor ball, eventually converting a penalty into 5 points through a powerful run (and some weak attempts at tackling) from the number 8 which was converted. Moor, again slow to the breakdown, conceded another penalty which was converted to make the score 10-0 to the home side at half time.

The skipper called for more possession and less haste at half time, demanding that his troops play sensibly to recycle the ball, do the basics well and cut out the errors which had frequently punctuated the first half. Changes were made, and the skipper reluctantly brought Tom Ireland into the centre (we had loads of forwards and no backs today!). And so the screw turned, beginning with the scrum that started to take a few against the head.

Moor trundled into the Wilmslow 22 and capitalised on a Wilmslow kick gathered by Heath who darted to the narrow side and off-loaded in contact to the ever-alert Tom Ireland. The latter shimmied past a defender then showed his elusive speed to cross the line and register 5 points wide on the left. Moor were back in town. Jaz’s sand-wedge should have been a 9 iron as he failed with the conversion attempt with a stiff breeze blowing across his line of fire.

Shortly afterwards, Greg Michael broke intelligently from a maul in front of the home sticks and ran hard towards the line bouncing a couple of defenders on the way, looking to all ends up as if he would power over. Despairing tackles counted and he offloaded to Lyons, recently arrived from Knutsford, who had the simplest of tasks to touch down under the sticks but decided to showboat and plomked the ball down in best girly-fashion with 2 jetees and a plie thrown in for good measure; Jaz’s sand-wedge had the strength to clear the bar and moor led for the first time, 12-10, with 20+ minutes to go.

A tap penalty in the opposition half heard Heath cry, “Give it to Dave, then support his run!”, upon which command Tom Ireland said, “Who’s Dave?”.  You just can’t win sometimes.

Moor cocked up possession in their own 22 under pressure, and the Wilmslow right wing showed power and pace to touch down in the corner. The excellent Wilmslow kicker stroked the conversion from wide right and the home side regained the lead 17-12. With 15 minutes left, Moor concocted a try from a scrum on the home 22. Jaz looped the Group Captain who cleverly committed two home defenders, and Jaz found Ireland lurking out wide with a long pass.  Tom ghosted past the defence who fell at his feet in awe and wonderment, and gleefully touched down to the right of the posts. With the score 17 all, Jaz scuffed the pressure conversion past the left upright. All to play for and 8 minutes to go.

Wilmslow upped the pace and the left winger was brought down twice by the never-say-die Ireland when a score looked imminent. Moor had used all 7 subs and the wire was fast approaching. Moor won a scrum near their own 22 and Heath slung a long ball to Ireland who showed his footballing skills and launched a long left-footer with the wind into the home half. His chase was exceptional and the home defence infringed by laying on the ball. A tap penalty resulted but Moor cocked it up, then were awarded a scrum. From the maul afterwards, the Moor pack locked in solidly and SAS Darwin issued commands with dexterity and leadership, guiding the trundle towards the home line with inexorable ease. Darwin flopped over the line and registered the try which would win the match. Jaz converted and the score stood at 17-24 to the visitors. Three minutes to play, and no major alarms. Moor had nicked one for a change, and jubilation was rife as the final whistle blew.

In the bar after the game, Heath calculated that the combined ages of the finishing back row for Moor totalled 157 years. If the average Wilmslow back’s age was 22 (bearing in mind they were mostly Colts) then our back row was older than their back line! How often is that the case?

A super win based upon attitude, experience, and ultimately, control. Ric Evans was a massively brilliant example in the first half; Heath showed the manual dexterity of an in-form Tommy Cooper with offloads to spare and generally called the right shots (even if his second-half kicking was atrocious); Greg Michael was back (almost) to his best and completed an excellent 80 minutes of graft. Rob Coates continues to impress and must aim to do so for the higher echelons of the club next season. Dave O'Neill showed excellent leadership and technique despite his tender years in both positions that he played and helped Moor to establish a winning pattern. Jaz Kondratowicz showed signs that his sniping is well-and-truly back as he jinked for the break of the match in the last 5 minutes, selling dummies at pace. One man stood head and shoulders above the rest: when Heath exalted his troops to show calm, composure and maturity in the face of the youthful adrenalin of Wilmslow, the youth and adrenalin of Moor stepped up to the plate in the form of a composed Tom Ireland, who turned the match in our favour and almost single-handedly plucked a victory from the jaws of defeat. Tom ‘Phenomenon’ Ireland won this match and deserved the plaudits of his team-mates in so doing. A proud skipper and coach sits staring at this screen with a warm glow and a smile on his face. With the Toms of this world, Moor is in safe hands.

PS - a letter just received from HQ informed the skipper of his promotion to Air Commodore in recognition of the stirling victory. Hurrah!