Latchford claim local “bragging rights”

LATCHFORD Alliance produced a dominant 46-10 victory over Rylands Sharks to claim local bragging rights and a valuable two league points to move up the NWML division five table.
The opening exchanges showed nothing of what was to unfold as the visitors raced into a 10 point lead in the opening 15 minutes with tries through Dan Banner and Dave Walker, Chris Meacock adding a conversion.
Latchford opened their account on the 20 minute mark when, centre Adam Wadsworth, superbly collected Jack Phillips’ cross field kick to score near the posts, Anton Mason converting.
On the stroke of half-time, Latchford drew level when, following a strong run by powerhouse prop Rudi Stewart, he managed to get an arm free in the tackle and offload to the supporting Ste Arnold who held off the Sharks’ defence to cross out wide.
At half-time the scores were locked at 10-10 with the game nicely in the balance.
The hosts got off to the best possible start in the second half when they scored on the very first tackle. Prop forward Damian Lyon collected the ball on his own 10 metre line and went on a rampaging run, leaving defenders in his wake culminating in a length of the field solo effort, Mason adding the conversion.
With the momentum with Latchford, they scored again shortly after. Hooker Darren Hill ran from dummy half and placed a perfectly weighted grubber kick to the in-goal area, where Joe Clarke showed great awareness to be the first to win the race to the touch down, again Mason converting.
At this stage Latchford were in complete control and extended the lead when full back Chris Griffiths received the ball from the base of the scrum, and showed great footwork to bamboozle the visitors’ defence, allowing him to score a fine solo try, Mason converting.
Next up to score for the hosts was veteran forward Mal Mason who ran a good line and a wide Phillips pass found him in space to barge his way over the line. Son Anton Mason kept up his good form with the boot by adding a difficult conversion.
Ste Arnold registered his second try of the afternoon when he received the ball 20 yards out, and went on a mazy run trying to find a hole in the Sharks defence which he did successfully and crossed just to the side of the posts, Mason converting.
The final try went to Rudi Stewart who scored a deserved try after a fantastic performance in the front row, when he took a short pass from Mal Mason and shrugged off the visitors’ defence to carry three would-be defenders over the line with him but still managed to ground the ball, Mason’s touchline conversion placing the seal on a fantastic team display.
Latchford’s man-of-the-match was awarded to hooker Darren Hill, who was a constant threat to the visitors with his strong running from the dummy half role.
*Latchford Albion were awarded a 24-0 win over Sims Cross who were unable to raise a team.