The seconds battled their way to a hard earned victory to complete the double over Wirral 2 in a game that contained a number of debating points, one centring around the topic of uncontested scrums.
Prior to kick off Wirral informed the referee that they had travelled without any recognised props on the replacement’s bench and of course the inevitable happened after fifteen minutes and the scrums were reduced to a mere vehicle for getting the ball back into play.
This immediately had an impact on reducing one of the weapons in Vale’s armoury, namely the effectiveness of their scrum, which has been a potent force all season because not may packs had achieved dominance over the Vale eight at scrum time.
The net result was that Vale’s well drilled pack had their wings clipped and as far as the scrums were concerned they were as effective as a chocolate fireguard. In addition, with a guaranteed solid uninterrupted platform, ideal for ball distribution, Wirral’s dangerous threequarters came more and more into the equation.
However, before the game assumed a different scenario the Vale made a steady, productive start. After three minutes Andrew Garnett opened the scoring with a try following a flowing, wide ranging attack. Winger Jordan Fern ran deep into Wirral territory before off loading to the supporting Andrew Garnett for an unconverted try.
Five minutes later the ball was moved wide again and once more Jordan Fern made rapid progress before slipping a weighted pass inside to Jamie Antcliffe, who had tracked the winger’s run, for an unconverted try.
The pattern of the game changed once the power in the scrummage drained away and Wirral started to make their presence felt. They began to dominate at the line outs, using the ball to good effect and picked up a number scraps as the Vale’s handling became untidy.
In the thirty third minute Wirral’s right wing embarked on a crossfield run that sliced open Vale’s defensive alignment to score an unconverted try to complete the first half scoring in what had been a frustrating forty minutes for the home side.
Wirral’s forwards manufactured a converted try in the forty first minute when the Vale were drive backwards from a line out.
Vale shuffled their resources but found it difficult to gain anything approaching a toe hold in the game or to disrupt Wirral’s composure. A forty metre penalty goal in the sixty second minute was thumped over by Alex Briggs to give his side a slender lead and a slight reduction in the tension, but the outcome still lay in the balance, for both sides.
A second try from Andrew Garnett in the sixty eighth minute converted by Alex Briggs brought with it a measure of security but the Vale could not afford to let their guard drop. Wirral still threatened; their backs tested the Vale’s defensive qualities but the longer the game went on the stronger the Vale became.
Victory was underlined in the eighty first minute when skipper Scott Manning blasted his way over, Alex Briggs added the conversion.
Overall Vale’s teamwork helped to cement a victory against a Wirral side that had the potential to collect the spoils. Again Richard Hodgson produced a typical tenacious performance. Toby Holt tackled courageously and set a standard that was followed by his colleagues, in particular when Wirral appeared to be gaining the upper hand.
Jordan Fern always posed a threat but credit must be given to the whole squad to haul themselves back into the game when they slipped behind at the start of the second half. It might not have been a classic but for those who like to see honest endeavour and commitment taking centre stage it was all there; at the end of proceedings the well worn cliché of a “win is a win” rang true.
Photographs: Tony North
Words : Stuart Vernon