Whitchurch 1st 49 v Ilkeston 31

Having never played in the Regional 2 Midlands North league before it was always going to be an interesting test for the 1st team today. Ilkeston finished 7th in this league last year so a good chance to benchmark ourselves for the coming season. 

The game started and Whitchurch were awarded a penalty for an offside by the opposition where newcomer Benny Elliot proved what a good signing this was with a kick from just inside the opposition half to put the home side 3 points up. Under the pressure of the Whitchurch defence the opposition gave another penalty away and the kick to the corner led to a Whitchurch lineout. Whitchurch secured the lineout and drove over for the first try of the game with Oscar Crossen scoring near the corner to put the home side up by 8 points. Ikeston then hit back with a penalty kick and a converted try after their centre broke through a couple of tackles and scored under the posts to give the Derbyshire side 2 points lead. Oscar Crossen then got his second try of the game after a driving maul which Elliot converted to restore the home sides lead. Then with probably the best score of the game as the Whitchurch backs passed the ball all the way across the field for Charlie Fletcher to score in the corner which Elliot converted to put the Reds in comfortable 22:10 position. The away side then had a penalty kick which came back off the crossbar which they picked up and threw out to their winger who thought he'd scored but for a brilliant tackle by Charlie Fletcher who drove him into touch just as he was about to score just before the half time whistle.

Ten minutes into the second half scrum half Max Clarke spotted a gap and scored under the posts for Elliot to convert the conversion for the extra 2 points. Whitchurch's dominance in the forwards showed again as following another lineout they drove over again for Crossen to get his hat trick try, again converted by Elliot off the post to give the home side a 36:10 lead. The away side were not giving up easily and scored 2 converted tries and seemed to be on for a great comeback until they were penalised for a high tackle and Elliot converted the steady the ship. The home side then continued to put pressure and new debutant Alex Gammon scored by the posts for Benny Elliot to convert to restore a healthy lead going into the last 10 minutes. Whitchurch continued to dominate and to round the scoring off Elliot scored a drop goal from the 22 metre line to secure the victory winning 49 :31.

This was a great start to the season with excellent performance all round with Alfie Linnington getting man of the match for his heroic tackling all around the park. They travel to Sutton Coldfield next week.

The pictures supplied are by Tallboy Images.