After yet another bout of bad weather blues with last weeks game and training cancelled it was good to be playing local rivals Congleton in the quarter finals of the Cheshire Cup. With Congleton's pitch inevitably soft but in unseasonally (for this year) good conditions Sandbach made a confident start with the scoreboard soon ticking over.
Today a better than usual supply of ball from forwards to backs seemed to phase Sandbach who decided to overcomplicate matters instead of taking the simplest and most efficient route to the opposition's line. When simple rugby was played points were scored but when flamboyance was mistaken for flair with supporting players ignored/bad options taken Congleton halted attacks, applied pressure forcing errors and made their own territorial gains.
Credit must go to Congleton who played with passion from the start and displayed superb team spirit throughout. It is a testament to both teams and the referee that not a single point was the result of a penalty with the game being hard contested but fair from start to finish.
Our thanks to Congleton for a game that was more competitive than the result suggests and for laying on the usual great hospitality.