Crewe & Nantwich continue their winning ways

The home team were on the wrong end of a 50 – 0 drubbing on the opening day of the season and Crewe expected the backlash from that result – they were not to be disappointed as their hosts turned up with every intention of restoring their pride and making it a very difficult afternoon for the visitors .

The game started in a cagey manner with territory and possession ebbing and flowing between both teams.
It was Crewe that broke the deadlock after 8 minutes when a fantastic move was started from a scrum on the right hand touchline just outside the Cleobury 22 meter line was finished off with a try in the far left hand corner which, was scored by Toby Ward thanks to swift and precise passing and attack by the complete set of Crewe backs.

That was Ward’s third try in two games and it was duly converted with a great kick from the touchline by Crewe’s number 10, Jim Creighton, 7-0 to the visitors.

From the restart the game deteriorated in quality to the frustration of both sides as the referee constantly blew his whistle for “infringements”, some of them justifiable and others that were less than obvious. Not only did it affect the quality of the game, it also affected the tempo.
Cleobury adapted better to this and Crewe were being sucked in to conceding far too many penalties. The home side were growing in confidence and they closed the deficit on 20 minutes with 3 points from one of the penalties they were awarded, 7-3 to Crewe.
The visitors looked frustrated and bewildered by some of the decisions that were going against them – that was until an individual moment of brilliance by Crewe’s right side winger, Elliot Meredith, who broke at lightning speed from inside his own half, handing off two opposing defenders strongly then sidestepping past the Cleobury full back to score a superb individual try to give the visitors a 12 -3 lead with just over 25 minutes gone.

The try went unconverted as Creighton’s usually pin point kicking just edged past the wrong side of the post this time to keep the score at 12-3 to Crewe.

The game restarted with the referee once again frustrating both teams with his constant whistle blowing and his own interpretation of the laws. With less than five minutes of the half left, Crewe conceded their 11th penalty of the half which, resulted in scrum half Alex Caldwell receiving a yellow card and 10 minutes in the sin bin.

Cleobury’s fly half successfully converted the penalty kick to make the half time score Crewe & Nantwich 12 – 6 Cleorbury Mortimer.
Crewe started the second half a man down as Caldwell still had 7 minutes to serve in the sin bin. They adapted to this and attacked the home team from the start with good phases of play resulting in a penalty being awarded just inside the Cleobury 22 meter line. With only a 6 point advantage, Crewe captain, Eli Woodward called on fly half Creighton to extend that advantage to 9 points when he opted to take the kick at the posts making it 15-6 to Crewe & Nantwich.

Caldwell returned to the pitch with the home team having failed to capitalise much from his 10 minutes in the sin bin. For a while it seemed that both teams had adapted to the referee’s interpretation of the laws with the game being allowed to flow relatively freely until the last quarter.
The home side were still in the game and throwing everything at Crewe to find a way back. Cheered on by their home support, they were growing in confidence and piling on the pressure on Crewe, who began conceding penalties again and started to lose their shape and discipline.

This was to prove costly as Cleobury were awarded a penalty for alleged back chatting to the referee by one of the Crewe players. The home team took the penalty quickly and from the ensuing chaos they managed to power their way over the line to score a try to reduce the deficit to only 4 points 15-11 to Crewe.
Vitally for Crewe, the conversion was missed and with 8 minutes left on the clock, Cleobury still needed a try.

Crewe had found themselves in this situation so often last season, and gone on to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.
Luckily, this time, they dug deep, managed to keep their shape and discipline to pen the frustrated hosts back inside their own half to see out the game and get that long awaited win on the road at the first time of asking this term. Final score Cleorbury Mortimer 11 - 15 Crewe & Nantwich Rugby.

Crewe & Nantwich Manager, Gwil Roberts said “Naturally I’m pleased that we won today, both tries that we scored were of the highest quality. We got drawn in at times into a messy and fractious game by giving away far too many penalties so we need to address our game management. The lads in fairness gave it everything in terms of effort and that’s what saw us through in the end. Two wins out of two is a good start. We will carry on addressing areas that need improving in training and hopefully we can extend this winning start to the season even further”.

Crewe and Nantwich entertain local rivals Whitchurch (who have also won both their league games.) this Saturday at the Vagrants Sports Club. The game kicks off at 3pm.