Altrincham Kersal 44 Keswick 24

Keswick’s opponents for their away game last Saturday were Altrincham Kersal, whose records show that the sides first met in 1952, but don’t record the location. With improved performances over the last few games, Keswick were hopeful of picking up a bonus point and a small but loyal band of supporters made the journey to south Manchester.

An early interchange of kicks saw Keswick reach the Altrincham 22 before being dispossessed and defending back to their 10 metre line where a knock on gave them back possession. However, relief was short lived as Altrincham regained the ball in the tackle and ran cross field and back to score a converted try for 7-0 on 5 minutes. From the restart a good kick and chase by Keswick was called back for the chasers being offside, the home side took a quick tap penalty, were lucky not to be called back themselves for a forward pass but scored a second try, unconverted, on 9 minutes to go 12-0 up.

A penalty to Keswick just inside Keswick’s half was run right on 13 minutes, reset at 2 tackles before Harry Vaillant made an excellent run and was able to make the last pass to Lewis Bell who converted his own try to reduce the deficit, 12-7. The restart didn’t go well, Keswick knocking on and, with their scrum under pressure, being penalised. Altrincham tapped and ran left but were pushed into touch. However, they continued to attack and just 2 metres from the Keswick line gave away a penalty and had a player yellow carded, allowing Keswick a chance to clear.

Despite an occasional failure to find touch, Keswick’s kicking from hand was proving successful, just as the scrums, under great pressure, were yielding penalties for Altrincham. A kick and catch was followed by an excellent run on the right wing by Ryan Weir but the play ended with a knock forward. Poor defence and missed tackles by Keswick from midfield meant an excellent run through by Altrincham but as a good final tackle was made, the offload to the supporting player was successful and a converted try under the posts took the score to 19-7 on 25 minutes. Just as it had looked as if Keswick were closing the gap, Altrincham Kersal had opened it again, albeit with a little help.

Successive scrum penalties as Altrincham opted for a scrum each time, allowed the home side to gain ground before kicking to the corner. Despite disrupting the Altrincham line out on a number of occasions Keswick were unable to do so when it really mattered but were saved as the opposition knocked forward during their maul to the line. The bonus point try for Altrincham came on 36 minutes when despite some good defence by Keswick they were able to touch down in the corner, the try unconverted for 24-7. Keswick attacked from the restart, making good progress into the Altrincham 22 before losing possession. A penalty for deliberate wheeling of the scrum gave Keswick a kick to the corner but touch was missed and an exchange of kicks ended with Altrincham running through missed Keswick tackles to take the lead to 29 -7 at half time, the conversion attempt coming back off the crossbar.

The second half started well for Keswick, running the ball right through Weir who, with George Holme in support outpaced the defence on 42 minutes for Holme to score an unconverted try, 29-12. The Keswick defence was improved in the second half but the scrums were still proving too much and with 50 minutes gone Altrincham opted for a scrum at a penalty 10 metres out and were able to drive forward for the number 8 to touch down, the kick going wide, for 34-12. Two successive penalties to Altrincham on the Keswick 5 metre line were well defended but handling on the ground meant a yellow card reducing Keswick to 14 men on 57 minutes . Taking advantage of the extra man, Altrincham kicked for the corner and mauled from the line out to extend their lead further, 39-12, the conversion attempt again unsuccessful.

Successive penalties against Keswick in the scrum denied them much in the way of attacking opportunities, hard ground gained lost through kicks to touch. On 63 minutes a line out from a penalty was mauled to the line for Altrincham’s 8th try, but with their kicker off form he missed this one too, a success rate of only 25% and the score was 44-12. Altrincham’s next attack ended with them being dispossessed and Keswick were able to run the ball out of defence, the ball passed to Weir on the 22 who evaded 3 tackles to run 80 metres and score an unconverted try to reduce the deficit, 44-17 on 72 minutes. The next opportunity, a 5 metre line out from a penalty went astray as the ball was overthrown and Altrincham cleared to their 22. In a Groundhog Day moment exactly the same happened at the next penalty only a minute or so later. With only a couple of minutes left and a try bonus point beckoning another great run by Weir ended in the ball being lost and another chance went begging. Having spent much of the last 15 minutes well into the Altrincham half of the field Keswick found themselves on the defensive in their own 22 as the clock ran down. At a retreating scrum to Keswick on the 22 captain Aaron Thompson picked up and ran, committing 2 tacklers before offloading to Weir who evaded 2 tackles, this time skinning the last defender on the outside, to score under the posts, the try converted by Bell, for the fourth, and more importantly bonus point, try. With the conversion the final whistle went and after a less than successful first half, Keswick had shaded the second half 17-15.

Saturday the Second XV are away at Leigh, one place above in the league but having played one more game, so this will be a tight match. The First XV will be welcoming Warrington to Davidson Park. They are also one place above us in the league, on equal league points but with a better points scored difference. Support will be important on Saturday so come along and support your team, kick off is at 2.15pm.