The last West Cumbrian League fixture for the Saints was indeed a tough one as the opponents Kells came to Carlisle. Team news was that Stu nicknamed bully made his Saints debut and Grant Mc was back from his week holiday which saw him miss last weeks match. Saint Originals, Aron and Bumble also made the return into the squad and also Preben who had been missing in Norway. Telford was out due to injury and Gary was back at Union.
The match quickly got under-way as the Saints kicked off. A huge first set of 6 forced a turn over and within 8 minutes of the match Reece managed to score his first try in the corner for the Saints to take the lead in a game for the first time in the League. Kells soon fired back and had possession in the Saints own 20 for 12 tackles and a try was inevitable the Kells stand off going over under the sticks after a nice dummy. 4-6 Kells. The Match finally settled down a bit with good defence from Stu Reece Mark and Aron and on 20 mins a pass for Grant Mc fell luckily into the hands of Gavin on last tackle to put the Saints into the Lead 8-6. Kells came back strong again however and their quick hands combined with pace out in the centres allowed them to go over in the corner. 8-10 Kells. The Half time whistle came and the Saints felt positive going into the half time break.
The second Half brought more great defending from the Saints with Gavin Grant Mc and Ross putting in some big hits on the Kells forwards. Some quick thinking by hooker Craig and driving from Stu and Ross made some good yardage before Ross had a try disallowed which was very controversial as it seemed he was in the deep rugby union style in goal area. This was indeed was a turning point in the match as the Saints felt hard done by and turned the intensity up a notch. Kells seemed rattled by the huge defence by the Saints and a turn over was inevitable. Rickerby capitalised on this and Gavin went over in the corner for his second try of the game. 12-10 the Saints lead. Some smart kicking with the wind helping gained Kells 2 drop outs in a row and they eventually went over to gain the lead and kicked to make it 12- 16 Kells with 5 mins to go. From kick off again another drop out and luck didn’t seem to be on the Saints side. They defended against 18 tackles on their own line and some smart tackling by Mark and Aron kept the Kells attack out. From a Scrum for a knock on Grant Mc was high tackled and it lead to Craig, Mark and Stu gaining brilliant yards to get within 20 yards of the Kells try-line. Then with 2 mins to go Grant Mc ran in with a nice dummy and side step to score in the corner to the joy of the Saints. 16-16. Craig needed to get the kick to score in the last minute to give the Saints their first win and he made the very hard kick to give the Saints the win 18-16
Kells coach MOM- Reece, Grant Mc, and Mark. Ref MOM- Whole Team.
1. Reece- Great try and a great defensive display.
2. Steg- scooted well. Back on the wing was subbed half way through.
3. Alan- Did well in defence unfortunate injury played well.
4. Si- Didn’t sees the ball in attack. Made some good hits in defence.
5. Preben- Did well to cover the kicks and ran and tackled well.
6. Gavin- great in both attack and defence scored 2 good tries
7. Grant Mc- good in defence getting up in their faces. Scored a great last minute try.
8. Danny- Didn’t seem to do much in attack but was solid in defence.
9. Craig- Played the ball well and did some good runs to gain valuable yardage.
10. Ste Rob- subbed early with injury but came back later in the game
11. Aron- good getting out of the scrum quickly and made a try saving tackle.
12. Stu- Brilliant in defence and attack. Great debut!
13. Mark- Good out of the scrums helped greatly in defence with sorting the line out.
14. Bumble- Came on for Ste Rob and did well. Good come back.
15. Grant L- Came on and did well in defence and good covering as well.
16. Ross- Came on very early filled in at Loose. Bri