Home Admin Rugby History Shop Home Social

Club Classified Advertisements -

2011-12 Part 1

Part 2

Saturday 17th December 2011

Ist XV vs Kirkby Lonsdale away by Karl Benn

Thanks to all the lads that tavelled away on Saturday. The Kirkby lads showed us how you can play by working together as a well drilled organised team. Individually physically/skill wise, there wasn't much between the teams in most parts. So i'm sure we can make huge improvements. We can only do this by taking the right options at the right times, and working hard in defence, which we have to practise to be able to do. I can understand its Christmas and some people had things on, but commitment in general seems to be somewhat lacking. We had a fantastic turn outs at the players meeting and Dean Marwoods training session, so i'm sure intentions are good. So we need see that on the training ground regularly and on Match days lads. We had 5 players starting in the same positions from the Furness game ( Dean, Adam, Joe, Trevor & Jason ) ....that by any standards is POOR !

Special thanks to Todd for playing on the wing, Ryan for playing Scrum half & Dave Thompson for freezing on the touchline and playing well for the short time that he was on.

A few lads have to have a good look in the mirror and decide whether you want to be a social club that plays a bit a of rugby OR a Rugby Club that has a good social life !

Well done to the 2nd XV lads for a good win.

And to echo Tonys comments lets kick on in the New Year and try and salvage something from this season, so that we can adjust/improve and compete in this league on a permanent basis.

Happy Christmas everybody.

2nd XV

Preston Grasshoppers

Forwards

Steve Watson , Dale Mclaughlin, Ian Cumming , Kyle Murphy, Callum Lamont, Chris Park, Ethan Kelly & Simon Long (Capt.)

Backs

Peter Swales, Bud Knowles, Alex Peel, Shane Clarke, Phil Atkinson, Jordan Postlethwaite

Subs

Ian Shovelton, Greg Waters, Ricky Donahue and Hugh Sweeney

The wind was blowing hard right up the pitch towards the club house and the sun was shining very cold wind though. The game started with Millom playing against the wind and Preston with it. From the start you could see the Preston Scrum Half and center had played at a higher level but they were controlled by the Millom Back row of Ethan, Chris & Simon also Peter swales at Scrum half and the big tackling Phil Atkinson in the centers. The First 15 minutes so a few breaks by both sides only to lose or knock the ball on. Then in the 16minute Millom won the ball by Steve Watson diving on it and the forwards driving on to the half way line Peter Swales then fed Bud at stand off, Bud called a miss move and sent it onto Graham Hartley. Graham then started on a run and bounced off two Preston tacklers side stepping the full back, he just managed to reach the try line with a Preston winger holding onto his legs and he put the ball down try Millom 5 Preston 0 conversion missed 16mins. Preston Kick off was claim by Simon who started to move forward before passing the ball to Ethan who gained another 20 yards before getting pulled down some how the ref gave them the scrum. From the scrum their number 8 picked up the ball and was tackled by Peter Swales and Millom forwards claimed the ball Kyle Murphy got his hands on it and ran towards the Preston stand off, you could see the stand off was trying to get out of the way but Kyle ran right over the top of him but was tackled by their big second row this time Millom forwards were a bit slow to support Kyle and Preston won the ball and right in for a try they also converted it 24 minute Millom 5 Preston 7. From the kick off Preston kicked the ball long into Millom 22 and into touch Dale McG ran to get the ball and take a line out hurled the rope barrier and falling into a big mud bath (Fuck up of the match). From the line out Millom took the ball forward the fed Alex Peel to gain 25 yards before getting tackled and Millom getting a Scrum. At the scrum Steve Watson Dominated their prop right through the first half Millom driving forward Ethan taking the ball forward but nothing coming from it. The next 10 minutes was kept between the 22yards then whistle went for half time.

Changes at half time Jordan who hadn’t seen much of the ball but tackled will came off with Bud Moving to the wing and Ricky Donahue going into stand off.

At half time the Ref had a word with the Millom team about going over the top and sealing the ball off and this set the tone for the second half with a high penalty count in favour of Preston. Having said that the Preston kicker wasn’t having a good game missing a couple of penalties in the first high and missing a kickable chance early on in the second. 8 mins into the second half the Ref gave Millom a penalty and up Stepped Callum to slot it right between the uprights Millom 8 Preston 7. Kick off Millom gaining confidence caught the ball and ran into Preston 22 set up a ruck then passed it out to Shane who ran and off load to Alex Peel only to be held up over the try line. From the scrum Millom passed it to the backs who were caught with the ball and Preston got a scrum and cleared to touch. The line out was taken by Simon Long he gathered it and the forwards started going forward and when it stopped Peter swales passed it onto Dale to gain another 10 yards but somehow the ball came back on the Preston side and the ref awarded a penalty against Millom for going over the top. Peter swales who had been tackling hard all through the game came off for a rest and Gary waters went on at scrum half. After about 5mins Peter came back on Greg moved to the flank Chris to the center Shane to the wing and Bud to come off. Still Millom leading 8-7. 15 minutes from time Dale Mcg got knocked and came off and up stepped the ever youthful Ian Shovelton to take on the hooker role. Last 10min of the game Alex peel chased a kick by Ricky and as the Preston player was about to pick up the ball he was hit hard and with a bit of Alex’s Knee to the head but just managed to put the ball down. Millom had a five meter scrum only for the ball to squirted out and the Preston scrum half to pick it up and run nearly the full length if it wasn’t for Alex to get back and tackle him into touch Millom might have lost the game. Phil Atkinson took a knock and had to come off with bud returning to the game on the wing and Shane going back into the centers. Last minute Millom got a penalty about 40 yards out looked like a difficult kick but a bit of back chatting to the ref who marched Preston back a further 10 meters so 30 yards out up stepped Callum taking his time for the kick he stroke it nicely and it sailed over the bar the Ref blow the final whistle Millom win 11-7

Good work by Ethan with carrying the ball forward and Acky for his tackling.

Thanks to Ian Cummings Chris Park and the 3 RL player Ethan Kelly, Ricky Donahue and Greg Waters

Man of the Match was shared between Steve Watson for the scrumaging and dominating the other Prop best game he has ever played hopefully to gain confidence from his display and keep up the effort. The other man of the match was Alex Peel for his go forward with the ball and all the tackling and covering tackling he did

Well done boys now have a few weeks rest ready to start again in the new year but train hard over the next to weeks ready to kick on into the New Year

Thanks also to Kev Rogan for helping out as well making the tactical changes

Saturday 10th December

Furness 1st XV home

By Karl Benn

Furness travelled across the Duddon estuary on this windy Saturday expecting to pick up the points, after seeing recent league results, in which Millom were heavily defeated. But the home side had other ideas, with Keiran Rogan declaring their intentions with some big early tackles. Furness took the early lead with a penalty kick, after some indiscipline from Millom, which plagued them most of the afternoon, they will look to remedy this on the training ground. This indiscipline at the ruck eventually produced a yellow card with Titch Preston having a 10 minute rest. Furness failed to take advantage of the extra man and strong wind in their favour and limped into half-time 3-0 to the good.

Millom rallied in the interval and started the second half with a fine solo effort from Trevor Dixon, he was throwing himself into everything and got his just reward with a good individual try from a pick up at the base of the scrum, 10 metres out, Neil Shaw converted. The Furness side produced some good forward drives in reply, but Milloms’ defence held firm, preventing the visitors from putting any phases together. Millom took the play back deep into Furness territory and after some sustained pressure, Scott Fisher saw an opportunity down the blind side and took his chance well, with a diving try in the corner, 12-3 Millom. Returning from injury, Tony Hartley entered the fray, replacing the hard working Todd Birkett. The Woolybacks looked in cruise control for a time, but this was undone by some bad decision making at crucial times in the game, this resulted in them putting themselves under unnecessary pressure. Furness benefitted receiving a shot at goal 12-6.

The visitors responded well with good drives from Mike Botes, Corne Els and the evergreen Ivan Allonby, but the home defence however was holding firm. Then the game nearly turned on its head inside a minute, after a couple of high shots in quick succession Millom found themselves down to 13 men, with Trevor Dixon and Scott Fisher both seeing yellow in consecutive tackles. This gave Furness the shot in the arm they needed and Millom buckled under the pressure, quick hands by the Furness backs, using their obvious overlap, saw a well worked try in the corner, Lee Haney converted 13-12 to the visitors. Millom showed great courage down to 13 men and defended well under pressure, Gavin Maguire showing his years of experience with a vital turnover when Furness looked poised to score with their overlap again.

Dixon and Fisher re-entered the battle from the sinbin at a crucial time with less than 10 minutes on the clock. The home-side took the game straight back to Furness and were rewarded with a penalty kick for their efforts. Neil Shaw judged the wind to perfection and floated his kick back in to take the lead 15-13. Finger nails were down to the bone as Millom clung on for a hard fought first victory of the season.

Saturday 10th December

Blackpool 1st XV away

By Tony Park

Line up Steven Watson(Chubby), Gary Stewart, Tony Swales (Popper), Kyle

Murphy, Callum Lamont, Jonny Wilson, Danny Bagshaw, Simon Long(Capt),

Gareth Kendal, Graham Hartley, Ryan Edgler, Phil Atkinson, Shane Clarke,

Alex Peel and Matthew Broadbent

Subs Andrew Mellon, Steven Rogers, Bud Knowles

At the start of the game there was a minutes silence for one of Blackpool veterans who died earlier that week

The game kicked of on a dry but windy day, the wind was blowing more across the pitch so no real advantage. In the main the game was played between the 22s scrums went the way of the put in even though Blackpool were pushing our scrum backwards. Simon Long playing at No.8 Picking up the ball as soon as it came through to him and feeding it on to Gareth Kendall. Graham Hartley making some breaks but not being able to link up with the other backs so they came to nothing Phil Atkinson played his usual tackle anything that moves roll, I think one time he tackled 4 people one after another Shane also played the tackling role.

It wasn’t till the 30 minute when we infringed and gave away a penalty about 30 yards out just wide of the posts. Blackpool took a shot at goal and put it wide, 22 drop out. After the drop out they tried a little chip kick over the top Matt Broadbent caught it and ran back into our forwards and we panicked a bit about getting the ball away. The panic got worse when Tony Swales tried kicking the ball our for it to end up in a Blackpool players hand 2 yards in front of him.

5 minutes before half time, Blackpool received another penalty, this time only 20 yards out and straight in front of the uprights, it would have been hard to miss. So as all the Millom players gathered under the sticks thinking they were going behind, but the Blackpool kicker took three steps before he kicked and the ball struck the upright and was not successful. A let off to say the least as Millom cleared their lines.

2 minutes before half time there was a scrum where the Millom Hooker Gary Stewart damaged his neck (he was playing well as well competing for the ball all over the park).

At half time Millom made three changes taking Ryan Edgler and Alex Peel off along with the injured Gary Stewart. Andrew Mellon went to stand off Steven Rogers went into the centres with Shane Clarke. Phil Atkinson moved to one wing and Bud Knowles on the other.

This is where Gareth Kendall stepped up into the front row with Graham Hartley moving to scrum half. With Steven Rogers playing at centre along side Shane Clarke , Milom now had some real pace in this pairing. The first ten minutes of the 2nd half was played into the middle of the park. Blackpool kicked the ball a high up and under Matt Broadbent fielded it and passed it to Bud Knowles who went on a sixty yard break but didn’t manage to feed the ball onto the supporting centres. So the break came to nothing

Blackpool ended up with a scrum only to lose the possession as Millom regained the ball with Jonny Wilson and Danny Bagshaw doing some good work on the ground. Simon Long carrying it forward only for Blackpool to infringe and give Millom a penalty about 35 yards out, up stepped Callum Lamont with the wind swirling around he calmly put the kick over 3-nil to Millom.

After that Millom seemed to get on top some good runs from Wilson, Bagshaw, and Long to start and were backed up by Swales, Watson and Murphy.

With 65 minute played Blackpool had the ball and again tried a chip kick the Millom back line on the Millom 22. Steven Rogers collected the ball and started to run, side stepping 2 player before the half way then bouncing of another as he crossed into the Blackpool half Steven continued on foot outpacing the Blackpool defence to score a well earn 60 yard try, conversion was missed by Callum Lamont.

This seemed to galvanise the Blackpool squad and from the restart they started a rolling maul making ten yards before Chubby realised the only way to stop them was to take it down so he did and they got a penalty. Blackpool continued to press and rumbled forward again only for it to be

collapsed again by you guessed it “Watson”. This time he received a yellow card.

This time with the penalty they took a shot at the sticks and missed again. With 70 minute played, Wilson was replaced by Kyle Murphy. Then Mellon gave a penalty for running with the raised elbow.

Blackpool kicked for touch caught the ball at the lineout and rumbled over the Millom line to score, it was converted to make it 8-7.

Millom; still with only 14 men on the pitch looked to run the ball and again the ref penalised Andrew Mellon. A bit of a scrap started and the ref took the Millom Captain Mellon was replaced immediately by Alex Peel.

With a lot of tackling a solid Millom defence; Blackpool were kept at bay for the rest of the game.

A well earned victory for the second team they all tackled like hero’s Blackpool gave the Man of the Match award to Graham Hartley and Millom nominated Phil Atkinson for his relentless tackling.

Saturday 3rd December

Burnley

Report from Paul Buckman

Well, what a defence on a day when the wind was propper bad, even for Wilson Park.The Burnley lads looked fitter,taller and more organised, I would estimate that Burnley had 85- 90% percent of the possession. they never actually left our 22 for most of the second half. It was a good job they didn't have any props e.g they played a flanker in the prop position as our scrum was the real winner and a lot of ball from there scrums was from the back foot. Mike Munroe ( man of the match) Laal popper and Gar kendall tackled and stopped every thing from the base of the scrum and around the scrum. Simon was into everything and I mean everything. Captaining him was a stroke of genius. The 2 centres Phil atkinson and Shane Clark were superb at Tackling.

Our one and only break was made by a good run from Shane Clark and good hands and was very well finished by Alex peel in the corner, yes that's right a winger caught the ball and scored in the corner. " never been known". then up stepped Callum, in high winds he got the kick of the season" probably worth equivalent to a try in that wind". rumour has it he actually closed his eyes , another rumour was that he kicked for touch and the wind took it, either way it was suburb and it woke him and Kyle up. When one plays well the other does " two props next year" well defiantly Kyle. Gar Kendals kicking in that wind was invaluable " unlucky not to be man of the match". Glenn Irving was everywhere again "a prop shouldn't be doing that much" The lad from the youth development who has been training "cant remember his name", came on early and had a good game at flanker " a bit Nieve but tackled everything. Shovey came on for chip with 20 to go and that bolstered a few things up, but saying that it was a good performance by all, tackling was immense. Only down side Squeek's coaching, right out of the Ryan Whelen school of coaching, "absolutely quite", But a new coach was born Kevin Rogan. Kevin was as keen as Mustard. You maybe able to retire soon as well. a good 7-0 win on another day we would have been beaten 7-25, so a very good win

Saturday 10th September 2011:

Blackpool at Wilson Park

(Bob Steele view)

Millom 2nd XV got back in the winning way after a good game against last seasons main rivals in Blackpool 1 st XV.

Some veterans making appearances at Wilson Park in this fixture, Ian Shovelton, Roy Park, Glenn Irving, Gareth Kendall and Gareth Bawden attempted to keep pace with some of the up and coming young guns. Dan Shovelton was the referee and had an easy day with only a few minor skirmishes during the 80 minutes.

 Saturday 3rd September 2011:

Southport

With so many players not being available for the opening 2nd team fixture of the season Millom did well to muster a side and youthful look of the team bodes well for the future of the club.

Southport with a larger and more experienced set of forwards took control from the start of the game, yet Millom had a chance to take the lead when awarded a penalty on 10 minutes, but Millom's young second row Callum Lamont failed with the conversion attempt.

Following this Southport cleared their won, won the subsequent line-out, rumbled up field with their far bigger forwards and scored a try (con missed) 5 - 0. Straight from the kick off Southports lively fullback scored under the sticks 12 - 0. On 20 minutes young Millom fullback Alex Peel took a knock to the head and had to leave the game, making the way for one of the greatest comebacks since the second coming of Christ, yes Tony (I'll say it again) Tony Park entered the game and played his part for the next 60 minutes at number 8 with Sam Armstrong moving to fullback and Cameron Proctor on to the wing. Millom despite being on the back foot managed to keep Southport at bay for the next 15 minutes with some inspired tackling, then 5 mins before the break Southport scored out wide (con missed) to into the interval 17 - 0.

2nd half and Millom defended valiantly for the opening 10 minutes, as Southport turned the screw through their pack and this pressure resulted in a Southport try on 50 minutes, plus conversion 24 - 0.

The young Millom backs of Peter Swales, Mikey Holmes and Shane Clark did manage a few breaks in the second period, but unfortunately these did not result in the trys that they deserved. Millom were awarded a penalty 20 yards out and wide of the post and from a quick tap Gordon Park was stopped five yards short. Again Southport cleared the line, won the line out and controlled teh ball to score another converted try 31 - 5. On 65 minutes stand-off Dave Shepherd took a knock to his head and had to leave the game, Southport kindly provided a player to keep the game at 15 a-side. Soon after this Millom went to uncontested scrums, as Paul Buckman had gone through the pain barrier for 70 minutes, but he relented for the last 10 (good effort Bucky). From the first uncontested scrum, Southport moved the ball well and scored out wide (con missed) 36 - 0. Following this Chip took an elbow to the face (bend your back in the tackle), then after what seemed an age, took offence and missed with a retaliatory shot, before an exchange of blows took place that resulted in the Southport scrum half being yellow carded.

Peter Swales took the Millom man of the match award with Sam Armstrong pushing him a close second. Despite the result an excellent effort in ensuring that a team travelled and an even better performance on the pitch as the effort and commitment to the Millom cause will benefit the team over the coming season. Well done everyone! You've done yourselves and club proud!

Some extra mentions must go out to Steve (Chubby) Watson for his first game in 10 years and for putting in a good shift with some good tackling being made throughout the game. The entire Millom team put in a good defensive display in hard circumstances, but the last word must go to Tony "TBob" Park, who defied the odds, as no one ever expected him to play the game that he loves ever again, yet he has and he put a typically strong performance in, although his legs maybe didn't get him where he wanted to be all the time.

Hopefully Millom will have some returning players this weekend to strengthen the 2nd team squad in what will be another challenging game against Blackpool 1st team at Wilson Park. All 3 promoted sides lost their opening games, so this weeks game with Blackpool will be keenly contested, as both will still be looking for that first win (as will Rossendale who travel to Keswick).

Pre Match and Season Crack from Luton

At last the summer is over and we can settle back into some good club rugby action for the coming season. Millom must put last seasons successful year behind them, build on the good things and continue to improve as players and as a team, if we are to have another good year.

Both sides gained promotion and both go into challenging open season games this weekend. The firsts are at home and more than ever home form will be critical for their success this year, so please come along and support them this weekend.

The 2nd team are away to Southport 2nd team and we have done well to manage to get 15 good lads out for this fixture, as the club has lost 4 players to Kendal (good luck to Peter, Dan, Adam & Glenn), 2 to injury already John Falconer (broken ankle) and Kev Rogan (dislocated knee), plus we have lost some good young talent to the distractions of women and drink. So in sending a full side down to Southport is a success already, regardless of the result (but I expect our young guns to do the business).

Hopefully another good year for the 2nd team and we wish Rossendale & Blackpool well as the other sides moving up to division 4 north this year alongside Millom. And to our friends remaining in division 5 north, all the best for the coming year.