Wirral 20, Blaydon 55
Photos by Stephen Billington
Wirral 20 Blaydon 55
Facing a Wirral side that had won all but one of their last 9 league games, and that against runaway leaders Hull, Blaydon trailed by 17-7 at the interval having had a lesser share of possession.
What followed next was an astonishing turnaround in which they took complete control in what was undoubtedly their most scintillating performance of the season. The backs simply ran riot, some brilliant handling and running producing 7 more tries including 3 in the final 10 minutes by which time the home side were a spent force.
A Craig Harvey penalty had given Wirral a lead on the half-hour but the Blaydon forwards responded immediately by driving Matt Jenkinson over with Ryan Foreman adding the extras, the first of 6 successful conversions by the fly-half.
By the interval the home side had added 2 more converted tries through Joe Murray and Matt Loon and with a 10 points advantage at the break probably felt in a comfortable position and with no premonition of what was to hit them in the second period.
Blaydon were immediately on the offensive only to lose the ball but quickly won it back with a Hugh Mongan interception on half-way, the winger racing back up-field for a brilliant score. Scrum-half Nathan Horsfall dashed over for a solo effort and then a Foreman penalty made it 17-24 and a 7 points lead.
Into the last 25 minutes and wave after wave of Blaydon attacks had the home side at sixes and sevens and helpless to stop the flow.
Handling of the highest order resulted in Dan Marshall, Frazer Wilson, Keith Laughlin and Guy Graham all crossing the try line, and in the final minute Liam Wright brought the spectacle to an end with his first ever try for the Blaydon senior team.
