WILMSLOW lost their first game of the season in a nail-biting cup-tie against Blackburn.
The early signs were good, with a scintillating Ben Day try giving the Wolves a well-deserved lead despite their spilling the ball at crucial moments in the first few minutes.
But disjointed Wilmslow, resting key players to bolster their unbeaten league campaign, lost out eventually to a disciplined and well-drilled Blackburn side whose pack dominated the loose play.
Wilmslow travel to fifth-placed Hoylake this weekend, in a bid to maintain their nine-match unbeaten league run and six-point cushion at the top of South Lancs/Cheshire One.
But senior players will remember the ghost of Christmas past which haunted them at Hoylake a few seasons ago, halting another unbeaten run.
"Hoylake is not an easy ground to visit and we will be taking nothing for granted," said director of rugby Darren Lucas, who came on for the last 10 minutes when Wilmslow played some of their best rugby of the day.
Reflecting on the first defeat of his senior coaching career, Lucas said: "All we needed was a bit of impetus. Overall, we put in a lot of effort against a difficult team that was well-drilled and disciplined up front.
"You could see why they haven’t conceded many points this year."
Lucas picked the outstanding young flanker Dan Partington as his man-of-the-match, highlighting the former Colt’s work rate, tackling and spirit.
"He came of age in this game against a hard and physical pack. Blackburn’s experience of winning tight games this season was probably what turned it for them. But considering we had several players missing, I am very pleased with what I saw."
The Wolves started so well against Blackburn, working their way to the visitors’ line, only to give up possession in their own scrum and line-outs as well as being turned over in loose play.
But on 15 minutes, a booming Bob MacCallum penalty took them back to the Blackburn 22. Pete Longbottom caught in the line and the pack drove forward. Fly-half MacCallum fed Day powering to the line at full speed.
He burst two tackles to cross near the posts and touchdown for MacCallum to convert.
Blackburn replied with a penalty and the game turned around 7-3 at half-time. Winger Ed Dalton failed to score what seemed a certain try early in the second half, only for Blackburn to reply from a powerful forward drive.
From a catch and drive at the line-out in midfield,their forwards peeled off and broke through tackles to suck in the home defence.
When they finally moved it wide, Wilmslow had run out of defenders and Blackburn full-back Nick Barnes scored in the corner to give the visitors a one-point lead.
When flanker Rich Williams was sin-binned, Blackburn took a short penalty and employed their well-rehearsed pick-and-go routine to finally extend their lead to 13-7 with a second try.
Wilmslow could so easily have replied instantly, when scrum-half Charlie Mulchrone raced ahead of his forwards to catch MacCallum’s restart kick and run deep into Blackburn territory. He offloaded to Partington hard on his heels, but the young flanker ran out of support and the attack stalled.
In a pulsating last few minutes, Wilmslow camped out at the Blackburn line but just failed to cross it.
* Vikings lost 29-17 at Whitchurch and the Veterans won 12-10 against Stockport.
There is a cracking game in prospect at Pownall Park this weekend, when the Vikings, unbeaten at the top on Miller Homes Division One, take on second-placed Leigh, kick-off is at 2.30pm.
