Wilmslow’s senior rugby team have marched triumphantly into the last 16 in the Daily Mail Schools’ tournament, a national competition in which they’ve excelled in recent years.
The Wilmslow lads saw out a nailbiting 9-6 win at Lancaster Royal Grammar School to extend their successful run.
The match itself was not much of a spectacle with little to excite the neutral. Played in testing conditions on a heavy pitch, try-scoring opportunities were few and far between.
Both teams were fairly evenly matched, and with defences on top, the two sides effectively cancelled each other out in the first half.
Trailing 6-3 at half-time Wilmslow – lifted by a stirring team talk from coach Matt Bebbington, an outstanding captain’s performance from Simon Green and the unerring boot of Wilf Noden – fought back to lead 9-6 with just five minutes left on the clock.
Under the competition rules, a draw wouldn’t have been enough for Lancaster as the home side, and with this in mind, they spurned the chance to kick at goal and pressed for the game-winning try.
Some heroic defending from the visitors in the final minutes of the game meant that Wilmslow held on for the win and ensured their progress into the last 16 for the third year in succession.
n Fortune was not on the side of Wilmslow’s senior footballers in the ESFA national cup competition.
A 2-1 loss at Henry Fanshaw School in Dronfield saw them go out of the competition and miss out on a place in the last 16.
Despite taking the lead through Sam Rathbone, a lack of quality in the final third and a failure to take chances meant that Wilmslow would always be susceptible to a second-half fightback.
And so it proved as the home side equalised after an hour and followed it up with what proved to be the winner five minutes from time.
While it was a disappointing way to go out of the competition, Wilmslow will now turn their attentions to round three of the Cheshire Cup this month.
