Caldy’s trio steal limelight from Bill Beaumont’s son

Jan 23 2008 by Our Correspondent, Birkenhead News

THE TRUSTY boot of full-back Simon Mason helped Caldy to their seventh National Three North success with a 22-7 win over Flyde at Paton Field.

Caldy competed well with a solid Fylde pack and looked dangerous on occasions in the back division on a day hardly ideal for open rugby.

Former England captain Bill Beaumont turned up to run the rule over his son Sam Beaumont in the Fylde back-row.

But it was the Caldy back-row trio of Jake Lyon, Matt Leeming and Sam Dickinson who took the eye – although there were plenty of other players who made their presence felt.

Craig Aikman was excellent at scrum-half for the visitors but not a lot went right for them on the day with the majority of decisions favouring Caldy.

Mason struck with a fourth minute penalty and doubled the advantage on 25 minutes when Fylde were adjudged offside.

John Armstrong was just wide with his only penalty kick at goal for Fylde on 32 minutes and three minutes later Mason showed him how to do it to make it 9-0 at the break.

After the third quarter, Fylde sent on three replacements only to immediately be reduced to 14 men with lock Nick King dispatched to the sin bin.

Mason duly capitalised on his indiscretion for penalty number four and when Fylde regained their full complement, Caldy grabbed their only try through Ben Lyon after a link with Richard Bradshaw following an excellent forward drive. Mason converted.

Straight from the re-start, Fylde kicked through for Oliver Brennand to get the touchdown, with Armstrong converting.

But Caldy had the last say on the day with a fifth Mason penalty in added time. They now sit ninth in the table with a 13 -point safety margin over the three relegation places.

New Brighton flattered only to deceive at Bradwall Road as their hopes of having a promotion say in North Two West took another setback following a 30-3 defeat at Sandbach.

The Blues exerted much of the pressure but too often chose the wrong option and could not open their try-scoring account.

Plus they were forced to field a makeshift back division with five players missing and it showed.

Sandbach took an early lead with a penalty and New Brighton, with regular kicker Stephen Dean among the absentees, missed two good chances to put points on the board.

They were made to pay as poor tackling let in the home side for a try and conversion just ahead of the break. But Oliver Perryman landed a penalty in the third quarter only for Sandbach to reply with a similar score.

Sandbach wrapped it up with a late breakaway try from an interception deep in their own territory. The conversion was successful but the scoreline on the day did not tell a true tale.

In South Lancashire/Cheshire One, relegation-threatened Anselmians shocked their host Hoylake with a 13-6 win at Melrose Avenue.

Sean Hatswell gained the only try of the day with Chris Wells converting and also landing two penalties. Hoylake had to settle for two kicks from Steve Young.

Southport took a bad-tempered affair against Wallasey 19-17. Wallasey had two men dismissed but finished the stronger with late tries from Ben Edwards and Craig Moule and a Paul Lewis conversion.

Edwards also crossed in the opening period but Southport, with a converted try and four penalties, just made it.

Wirral’s poor run of results continued in South Lancashire/Cheshire One with a 24-7 defeat at the hands of hosts Sale.

They could never quite match Sale and had to be content with an Ian White try, converted by Craig Harvey.

Three tries plus a conversion gave Sale a 17-0 interval lead. Wirral rallied later after making several substitutions, but Sale added two penalties and a fourth try in the last minute for a convincing result.