Creighton inspires victory against Douglas

Crewe & Nantwich 1sts earned a fine second home in successive weekends with a comfortable victory over the Isle of Man side, Douglas.

The game started off well for Crewe, immediately showing dominance up front creating a nice platform to play off. Some nice phase play followed and the ball was moved wide for winger Tom Fenney to score his first of the afternoon, 5-0. After failing to exit their own 22, Crewe gave Douglas a penalty, which they converted to make the score 5-3. Crewe scored next on the opposite side of the field from their first try, Jimmy Creighton showing a fine turn of speed to score a fine individual try making the score 10-3. Again, Crewe failed to clear the lines, giving Douglas another shot at 3, 10-6.
An introduction off the bench for Crewe provided another injection of energy needed on a heavy pitch. Within a matter of minutes of coming on, Tom Manaton scored his first of the afternoon, 17-6 going into half time. Crewe could have been further ahead, but poor offloads and spilling the ball near the try line left multiple opportunities out there.

In the second half with the wind now behind them, Crewe looked to attack. Fenney broke the line from a set piece move, leaving the score 22-6. Josh McShane was next to get on the score sheet, some scrum dominance and unselfish hands allowed him to score in the corner, 27-6. Credit to Douglas, they never gave up and continued to press Crewe with their line speed, leading to an interception where their 8 went form his own half to score, 27-13. Again, another nice break from the Crewe back found space for Tom Manaton, where he rolled the ball through for Jacob Aston O’Donovan to be tackled before the line which resulted in a penalty try, 34-13. Crewe failed to hit touch and found themselves back in their own 22, where Douglas played some nice phases and scored out wide, 34-18. In the final moments Manaton got his second from a set piece move, making the final score 39-18 to Crewe.

Next week, Crewe travel to Hoylake away before the following week travel to Firwood Waterloo for the next league game.