Caldy RUFC miss out to Loughborough Students in encounter at Paton Field

Oct 12 2011 by Our Correspondent, Birkenhead News

TWO very well matched sides fought for league supremacy at Paton Field – and the difference on the day was without doubt Craig Holland who showed how important it is to have pace.

He was involved in all three of the Loughborough Students’ tries scoring two and creating a third for wing Craig Dowsett.

Tension before kick-off was obvious for all to see with both sides vying to remain at top spot after each had made strong starts to their respective campaigns, and the early exchanges were littered with errors.

Loughborough probably edged the physical battles in the early part of the game and were awarded a penalty on nine minutes for an infringement at the scrum.

Loughborough fly-half Chris Surman kicked the penalty.

Caldy then went on the offensive and forced Callum Wilson into touch from the kick-off.

The home XV then moved into Lougborough territory but a handling error saw the ball spilled on the Loughborough five-metre line and full-back Holland collected the ball and ran three-quarters of the length of the pitch before drawing a defender and allowing wing Dowsett to stroll in under the posts.

Surman comfortably converted the try.

Richard Vasey hit back with a penalty for Caldy but three successive penalties for Surman before half-time meant that the score at the break was 19-3 in favour of the visitors.

Vasey successfully booted over three penalties to leave Caldy trailing by only seven points just after the hour mark.

After the break, Caldy had obviously decided to up the tempo and their superiority at the scrum was evident as Salisbury, Dowridge and Parker continually put pressure on the Loughborough Students’ front-row and turned over numerous scrums in the second-half.

From one of those turnovers, Vasey kicked a penalty to reduce the deficit to 19-6 and two further penalties on 55 and 61 minutes brought the scores to within seven points.

With Caldy seemingly controlling the game, Loughborough stole possession and slick handling saw Holland chip the ball down the wing before collecting his own kick and touching down for an unconverted try.

Caldy worked tirelessly through the remainder of the half and a try from Liam Devaney from a good Derek Salisbury pass allowed him to score his fifth try in as many games and it looked like Caldy had earned a bonus point from the encounter.

In fact Caldy could have snatched a draw in the dying minutes of the game when a period of pressure on the Loughborough five metre line looked like it would result in a score for the Wirral team.

But Holland read the lay perfectly and intercepted a pass before running the whole length of the field to score under the posts. Surman converted and this secured Loughborough the four points they needed to stay top as they sealed a 31-17 triumph.