Whitchurch 38 vs Birkenhead 29

Birkenhead Park arrived at Whitchurch on a beautiful Saturday afternoon on the back of a crushing away win at Vale of Lune but their illustrious history and blinding confidence was soon shattered by the Shropshire men. Within seven minutes, Joe Mullock saw an opportunity and took a quick tap penalty and raced through four players to touch down under the posts from 50 metres. Robbie Leighton converted easily. Ten minutes later, with the reds in full command, a fine back movement was finished off in the corner by Teddy Ravenscroft. Leighton converted from out wide to give the home side a 14 – nil lead. Park came back and applied repeated pressure and this finally allowed them to cut through a gap and score close in. The kick left only one score between the two sides and the giant visiting pack were beginning to gain the upper hand. Joe Mullock stepped up again as he lofted a kick from behind a ruck and chased it himself. The bounce of a rugby ball is unpredictable but he seemed to sense its trajectory and pounced to score again. The reliable Leighton converted. The home side thought that the half time whistle was due and relaxed somewhat but thr referee allowed the game to continue for another ten minutes and, during that time, Park scrambled another try to leave the eventual half time score 21 – 12 to Whitchurch. 

         Whitchurch started the second half brightly and the skilled backs soon opened up a gap which James Marvell brilliantly exploited with a scything run. Leighton secured the extra points. The Park pack began to use its extra weight to push the red eight backward. They caught and drove from a lineout to close the gap but the score was wide out and the conversion missed. Whitchurch struck back immediately when Leighton cross kicked and Marvell got his brace by carefully watching the ball and judging its bounce.  A flurry of yellow cards against Whitchurch gave the visitors the chance to play against a depleted defence and they were able to score a converted try. There was now only fourteen points between the sides but Leighton took on a long range penalty and kick it cleanly between the posts. The referee again played on and in the 53rd minute of the second half reduced Whitchurch to twelve men with his yellow cards. Park took advantage of playing three men up to score an unconverted try. A minute later, the final whistle blew for a great win for the Whitchurch men. Coach, Jordon Davies, said that he was, “ecstatic.  All the training and the work ethic of the team was coming together and promises a great season.”