Wirral 59-12 Bowden

Aug 29 2012 by Our Correspondent, Birkenhead News

WIRRAL defeated Bowdon in this Cheshire Vase cup game playing an experimental team which contained four new players, coupled with a number of colts alongside the nucleus of last year’s team.

Led by captain Craig Harvey and playing against the breeze, Wirral raced into a 31-0 lead by the 23rd minute, helped by an Ali Barker hat-trick and two tries from Danny Harvey, with Craig converting three.

With an improved share of the ball, Bowdon came back into the game scoring two tries before a further converted try by Craig left the half time score at 38-12.

In the first 20 minutes of the second half Bowdon, although penned in their own half, kept the rampant Wirral backs out with solid defence and a fair share of the ball.

In the final 20 minutes of the game, Wirral clicked into gear again scoring three further tries, through Ali Baker (again), Mike Warren and Craig Harvey, with the latter converting all three, to give him a match haul of 24 points.

This was an encouraging result for the Wirral team who will now have a selection problem for next week’s league game with six first team players coming back into contention for selection.

RICHARD MCNEIL