A threadbare First XV underwent the ritual away day loss this time 6-24 at Vagabonds on the Isle of Man, whilst the students of Liverpool Veterinary School taught the Second XV a 13-31 lesson at home.

This weekend, weather permitting, the First XV host Buxton in a John Cunningham & Company sponsored game kicking off at 2.15pm, with the Second and Third XVs on the road to Rochdale and Hoylake respectively. On Sunday afternoon both Colts teams are due at Rossendale, whilst the Ladies are closer to home at St Marys, Crosby.

Whilst it may be winter outside, inside the clubhouse will be brimming with Australian sunshine on Sunday afternoon with a farewell party for Megan Ellis who leaves for an eighteen month sabbatical down under, whilst welcoming home new granny Sue Astwood from Perth. A draw for England 2003 world cup winning memorabilia will be held with some of the proceeds going to kick start club captain Gareth Lang and his team trans Pennine bike ride in August aid of Cystic fibrosis. Very informal from 1pm onwards, everyone welcome so if you dont get your fix on the pitch come down and put some money over the bar off it! Ripper.

SECOND TEAM by Rik Potter

Southport Dealt Clinical Blow By Vets

Southport 13 Liverpool Veterinary School 31

A must win game faced Martin ‘Calamity’ Baileys team at Waterloo Road last weekend. Liverpool vets 2 places below Southport’s 2nd place standing in the league but with a game in hand had the opportunity to propel themselves into promotion contention. Southport had previously won away in a convincing match, but as Old Man Mark Astwood stipulated pre match – These boys were certainly no mugs so the potential Banana skin match needed poise and focus.

Southport in the first 20 minutes did enforce their power and drive into the fray with old hands John ‘Ocean’ Gillow and Mikey Perrin (with a mean age of 125) crashing into rucks and carrying the ball well. The scrums were dominated as Southport marched towards the Vets try line. A penalty was conceded allowing Jason Fitzpatrick the opportunity to push ahead 3 – 0.

Southport maintained this temperament for 20 minutes with no further lead enhancement, but then appeared to flag, and the youthful and talented Vets team took spirit from their defensive exploits and started throwing some exciting phases together.

The first and second scores for the Liverpool team were break away try’s; one through poor defending and the other through some excellent handling in contact and rapid recycling from a kick to the full back on his 22, to quickly release their backs against a dog legged defence. Their visceral tenacity had the home team supports clapping with the true respect the moves deserved. And both were easily converted.
Southport did get a further grip on the game pushing scrums back to the 22, but further handing errors combined with a lack of discipline failed to capitalise on the epic work the forwards had put in, credit must be given to Man of the Match James Smallwood, Jonah Jones and Neil Bayliffe who crashed and defended throughout the match. But as a collaborative unit the cohesion was missing the final piece in the puzzle of scoring post territorial domination never really materialised.

Southport however kept their heads high and always looked positive. And finally the first try came, a great catch on the 5 meter line by Smallwood and a forward drive, this strength simply blew the defence away as Gillow carried over.

Southport gained momentum from this and moments later after Phil Causey’s arrival onto the pitch with a tackle on the Full Back that resembled a mating ritual of the duckbilled platypus, the pack crashed forward, and released Matty Astwood for a powerful hand off and crash through the defensive line to the bottom right corner to further reduce the deficit.

Southport continued to look dangerous, but the physicality of the match had taken its toll. And a final try for the Vets post some further talented recycling – and some further woeful defending left the match 13 – 31 to the visitors.

Major high points of the game were certainly illustrated by Southport’s never say die attitude; the great support of the crowd really inspired the team to push on. However, fitness and cohesion seriously requires some further work. SO LADS – If you want to win the league, this is your opportunity – TRAINING, TRAINING, TRAINING…….. Your future is in your hands! (Unless you’re Andy Boland who currently only has one……..) Get better soon Andy…….

Try: John Gillow, Matty Astwood

Penalty: Jason Fitzpatrick

Under 7s by Dave Hignett

Honours Even for “Devils” in Home Triangular

Southport “Devils” 17 v LSH and Tarleton 17

The “Devils” were pleased to welcome teams from Liverpool St Helens and local rivals Tarleton to attend a triangular tournament at Waterloo Road. With the arctic temperatures making it the coldest match day of the year so far, and the games not kicking off until an hour after the warm up started, the coaches and parents knew that trying to keep the brave players warm was going to be difficult. Both Tarleton and LSH turned up with seven players, and Southport had fifteen so split into two even ability teams to play both teams twice, with simultaneous games going on two pitches.

Unfortunately I was refereeing on one of the pitches so can only report on those games, however our other devils team scored 15 Try’s over their 2 games with the same conceded. The scorers were led by pace and power George Kenny with 3 Try’s, George Harvey, Lewis Parker, Lewis Grove, Callum Bailey & Hugh Lawrence with two each. Lastly Cohen Murphy and Tom Nicholson got one each to finish the scoring.
Game 1 – Was against LSH and finished in a narrow loss of 9-10. The devils took half the match to warm up and shake off the icicles, but good rugby was on show. Ethan Owen decided that three weeks without rugby was too long and scored an incredible 5 Try’s to rightly earn himself star of the week. Erin Day pirouetted to her usual high standard to score 2 Try’s, with Elliot Highdale and Archie Morris finishing the scoring with one each. Unusual handling errors where the main reason for the loss of ball possession, but with the cold temperatures we can let them have an off day.

Game 2 – The second game was against local rivals Tarleton, and was played immediately after the LSH game which seemed to galvanise the “Devils”. Now they were warm a much better treat of rugby was served, and captained by Jessica Pagan the devils were ready to dig in and show their class, the game started. It was nip and tuck against a very good Tarleton team with Angus showing exceptional skill to score many Try’s, but the “Devils were not to be outdone. Lewis Fusco, in his first game back since his winter sun holiday, started the scoring and was excellent in the middle of the park with fellow “dog” Charlie Hignett. These two were having their own battle, with a fantastic defensive display, to see who could get the most tags. It is great to see a side develop and the “dogs” create the fulcrum of this team ably assisted by Ethan Owen at full back, who is showing excellent skill and positioning in defence, but adds so much in attack and scored another 2 Try’s. Charlie Hignett support play was again excellent and he ran through the entire Tarleton team on many occasions to not only set up for Try’s for the rest of the team but also to score 2 Try’s with side stepping and spinning that even in tight spaces somehow stops any player getting near him. The whole team is developing into a formidable force, Archie Morris provides great support play, strong running and good defence, with pace provided on the wings by Elliot Highdale and Jessica Pagan. However to finish the report special praise must also be given to Erin Day who also has ability to beat players time and time again wit amazing pirouetting, to score an incredible hat trick. A fantastic team performance led to a narrow 8-7 win to the “Devils”.

To summarise, LSH coached by Dave and Tarleton coached by Jed are 2 excellent teams that gave us very even games. The Spirit was excellent and the ethos the same, Children play Rugby to have fun – and they did!