Gutsy Garstang Show Courage in Defeat

Sat 10th Apr 2010, 03:00 PM
10 Garstang - Hutton 29

On the warmest day of the year so far Garstang travelled to their near neighbors Hutton. After last week’s disappointing loss to Birchfield it was important for the Oaks to put in a strong performance against a team still in the hunt for promotion.

As has become Garstangs trademark they started the game well and nearly scored in the opening minutes when some incisive attacking between the forwards and backs put ‘Winky’ Winkler clean through and it was only a desperate last ditch tackled that prevented the try.

This was positive stuff from the away side and with Hutton looking stronger in the scrums but Garstang dominating the line outs it was key to kick accurately to take advantage of this and to minimize the Hutton back line that looked to attack at every opportunity from deep. However, kicks too often failed to cross the side line and this put Hutton on the front foot. From one of these missed kicks Hutton worked a position and took the first score of the day (5-0).

In the hot conditions the forwards were working at a great pace and special mention has to go to the three Stooges in the front row. Moe, Larry and Curly were putting in an outstanding performance in the Loose carrying the ball well and smashing into rucks. Hutton tried to respond with their number 8 making some impressive runs but it their backline that are their strongest weapon and they stretched the Oaks defence on several occasions before half time (17-0).

At half time Garstang re-organised and came out playing far tighter. This suited the conditions and the game became far more of a contest and frustrated Hutton, This frustrated resulted in hand bags on more than one occasion but this was due the ferocity of the tackling from the away side rather than dirty play. This lead to numerous penalties on the home side and they were fortunate not to have a man in the bin, John Robby stepped up and put a deserved kick over (17-3).

When the ball broke to the Hutton back line they still looked dangerous, from one of these attacks they attacked down the middle and after some good offloads they crossed to make the score 22-3. At this point Garstang made some changes with Adam Nixson and Rob Charles coming on. With the hot weather both sides were tiring but the work that Garstang have been doing showed as they best spell came with 10 minutes left and it was fair reward after some good attacking that they created a 4 man overlap that Jimmy Richardson was able to laugh at and ignore as he crashed over for the try (22-10).

Garstang looked like they would win the second half but Hutton were able to get some good ball and scored the final points of the day with a very well worked try (29-10). At the final whistle the home side duly celebrated their win but again Garstang had travelled to a fancied team and put in a performance of real grit and determination that surely will see them return to North Lancs One next season.

With training back outside on Tuesday and Thursday it is vital to get everyone one from the club down if we want to secure another year at this level.

Miller, Kenyon, Coreless, Orr, Yates, Richardson, Pye(Woods), Kelsall, Brown, James, Emmott, Everest (Charles), Bell(Nixson), Robinson (Capt), Winkler