19 September 2017
KGS U13 vs Wirral Grammar School U13
KGS 30 – 20 Wirral
Kirkham got the season off to a winning start with a positive performance against visitors Wirral. It was the visitors who started strongly, but Kirkham were up to the challenge and defended with resilience on their own line, with important tackles being made around the ruck from Sutcliffe and Edwards. After their commendable efforts in defence, Kirkham then started to create possession of their own and it wasn’t long before the likes of Hayward and McLeod were beating the opposition defence. As the game settled, both sides created chances but it was Kirkham who broke the deadlock with an encouraging piece of interplay between backs and forwards, allowing the home side to cross the whitewash in the corner. Impressive tackling and rucking from Wright, Johnson and Thompson made things challenging for the Wirral side, who also managed to score in the latter stages of the half, but Kirkham managed to stay on top with an important interception try from Archie Dowds.
The second half continued in the same fashion with Wirral running well with the ball, but they were unable to penetrate the Kirkham defence and it proved to be the home side who looked most dangerous going forward. After some positional changes, the KGS team created several line breaks, with Captain Charlie Read and Centre Ben Wiggins in particular looking promising with ball in hand. Wirral persevered in their efforts, but excellent wing play from Shuttleworth led to further tries and ultimately a comfortable win for the Kirkham U13s, who will look forward hosting St Ambrose next week.
