AFTTER a tough season Wirral RUFC's under 15s overcame tough opposition away at Congleton to win the Cheshire Plate Semi Final earning a place in the finals to be held at Anselmians Rugby Club on May 3.
Wirral were without some of their regulars due to Wirral Grammar School having played in the semi-finals of the NatWest Schools Cup at Saracen's ground, Allianz Park, the previous weekend.
Action from Wirral under 15s' clash with Congleton. Picture: Mike Gibbens
This had been a bruising encounter with Wirral being the last state school in the competition and going out to QEGS Wakefield and leaving some of the squad licking their wounds.
On top of this the School Seven's team had played the day before at the Macclesfield Invitation Seven's tournament where they were victorious, winning after being pitched from competitors from across the country.
Action from Wirral under 15s' clash with Congleton. Picture: Mike Gibbens
So it was with some players out of position that Wirral took to the field against Congleton and immediately laid on the pressure with Wirral's forwards grinding out the phases, working their way up the pitch for scrum half, Harry Branch, to dig the ball out and pass directly to inside centre, Joe Owens, who took the ball at pace and powered over under the posts and through the Congleton defenders to score within the first 10 minutes. Conor Morris converted to take the score to 0-7 in Wirral's favour.
Action from Wirral under 15s' clash with Congleton. Picture: Mike Gibbens
From the restart Congleton came back with greater resolve and at times lost their composure and discipline a little with a number of off-side penalties and a high tackle finally resulting in a yellow card for the Congleton outside half.
This was Wirral's opportunity to take control of the game but a case of "white line fever" got the better of the Wirral players and they became isolated and got turned over time and again. The half ended 0-7 with Wirral having dominated territory and possession but unable to convert it into points.
After the break Congleton came back stronger and Wirral rarely made it out of their own half. On one of these rare forays Wirral were awarded a penalty for off-side just outside the Congleton 22 and Niall Gibbs stepped up to coolly kick the penalty taking the score to 0-10 in Wirral's favour.
Action from Wirral under 15s' clash with Congleton. Picture: Mike Gibbens
With time running out Congleton realised that they had to turn it on and Wirral were finding it increasingly difficult to repel their attacks.
After one attempt was held up and another adjudged to have been knocked forward, Congleton finally scored just right of the posts just before the final whistle leaving the final score at 5-10.
After a hard fought contest both sides shook hands and it was Wirral that went through to the Final.
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