Phoenix beat the leaders
Pendle Phoenix started their 2012 campaign with an outstanding performance that saw the league leaders Manchester Medics topple from the top spot.
The Hodge House squad have had four weeks lay off over the Christmas period, but during this time the players have been putting in extra training sessions, which helped them achieve Saturday’s result.
The game plan was to do the basics well and always keep the opposition wondering where the next attack was coming from.
Pendle took control from the kick-off and Luke McNamee drove the ball deep into the Medics half.
When the ball was recycled by Danny Rowlands, a quick break down the blind side by James Redford nearly resulted in the opening score, but a foot in touch gave the line out to Manchester.
At the line out the Medics tried to clear their lines with a kick, but a charge down by Liam Canning resulted in the ball falling to second row Ben Peverley, who drove for the line and carried three defenders over to score in the corner.
Manchester soon hit back, but a rock solid performance by Rob Lawless and Jonny Harper stopped them in their tracks with some bone crunching tackles.
The Phoenix front row of Nick Martin, Danny Owen and Dave King gave Pendle the platform from which to attack, and Aldo Trapanese caused problems for the opposition with his hard, probing runs from the base of the scrums.
Phoenix won all of their own ball at the line out and stole a large percentage of the opposition ball through Carl Wiseman and Canning, and from these line outs Pendle launched their attack.
But a solid defence by Manchester kept the Hodge House side out until half-time, when Pendle went in with a 5-0 lead.
The half-time talk was about retaining possession and playing attacking rugby deep in the Manchester half.
Pendle applied the pressure straight from the restart, and when the Medics tried to clear their own line with a kick, Sonny Waddington started the counter attack by giving Rob Lawless a short pass, who found Tee Hempstead in support, and he side stepped two defenders to score under the posts.
Lawless added the conversion.
Phoenix continued to play a wide expansive game, and they used their fitness to win the battle at the break down, where quick ball to players coming from deep at pace caused the Medics to tackle anything and everyone to stop Pendle from adding to their score.
The final nail in the coffin came when Trapanese stole a ball at the contact area and found Shaye McCullough at full pace, and his side-stepping run saw him tear through the Manchester defence to score another five points. Lawless converted to give Pendle a well deserved 19-0 victory.
This performance was a total squad effort, and if Pendle continue to play to their true potential, then they will take more scalps in the coming months.
The Chakra Restaurant Man of The Match was Hempstead.
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Weather for Pendle
Saturday 26 May 2012
Today
Sunny
Temperature: 9 C to 20 C
Wind Speed: 17 mph
Wind direction: East
Tomorrow
Sunny
Temperature: 10 C to 21 C
Wind Speed: 14 mph
Wind direction: East
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