South Lancs & Cheshire Division 1
Sale FC 59 Hoylake 6
We totally dominated affairs in this nine try performance to overwhelm Hoylake at Heywood Road last Saturday in what was both a league and Cheshire Vase encounter.
Within ten minutes Mike Raikes paved the way for Jack Moorhouse to burst through the visitors’ defence to score under the posts and Raikes added the conversion for a 7-0 lead. Hoylake came back almost immediately when Steve Young kicked a penalty after we were caught offside, but we were having almost all of the play, but once again poor handling was hindering the cause.
Midway through the half a weak clearance kick by Hoylake saw winger Mike Thiel gather up the loose ball and two sidesteps later he was touching down for a try, again converted by Raikes. The home side continued in attacking mode as the Raikes/Moorhouse partnership repeated their efforts as Mike delayed his pass just sufficiently for Jack to race through for his second try and for Raikes to add the extras. In the closing minutes of the half another flowing move ended with full back Tom Lucas touching down in the corner and we were 26-3 ahead at the break.
Although we were well in control it had also been a half of poor handling as we turned over possession more than a dozen times, but in the second half play became much more tidy. Chris Lillie came on for Tom Tabb on 50 minutes and within 20 seconds was touching down under the posts following a searing run from mid-way. Young was successful with a second penalty for the visitors, before Lillie scored a second try as the hour approached and with Mike Raikes successful with both conversions we had hit the 40 point mark.
With fifteen minutes remaining Tom Lucas was released down the left and outstripped the cover to score in the corner, and in the closing minutes tries from Andrew Baston and James Kidston the latter following a great run by No. 8 Alex Bowen, saw Raikes add the conversions for a comprehensive victory.
Neil Thallon