3rd Team

Sandbach 30 - Preston Grasshoppers 16 Sat 12 November 2005 After last week’s abysmal display in their 38-8 loss to Wirral, Sandbach took on a Preston team determined to produce the sort of rugby that has brought much success and many a drunken night out….I think ! Whilst sucking on a fisherman’s friend from the sidelines I noticed that the match started in a very similar vain to the Wirral match. Sandbach dominated the early proceedings yet found it difficult to penetrate Preston’s tight defences. Sandbach eventually did get on top and managed to score with fabulous ball control skills from Richard Pickford after Preston’s fullback succumbed to Phil Bradford’s meaty tackle. We scored some more and Preston got a few but the rest of the match was pretty much a blur. Stuart Millward scored a good try and had an awesome game showing great speed, courage and composure under serious pressure from the Preston would be tacklers. Picker’s scored two belting tries and continues to be a huge influence within the team with his power tackling and never say die attitude, a true ‘Hulkamaniac’ in the making! Steve Jones made his usual storming runs and kept his pedal to the metal for 80 minutes, something that was lacking last week by a few embers of the team. Man of the match goes to Sam Thorneycroft who never stopped running and I was particularly impressed by the lateness of his tackle on Preston’s outstanding fly half. Well done Sam and congratulations to the entire team on this latest win. Martin H Johnston and Jason Keeble between them managed to fill Colin’s Stent’s gap at scrum half. Hope you’re feeling yourself again soon Colin!! Best wishes to Tom Astles who I had to pull off at half time due to injury. Its never nice to have to do that to family members, especially as he was playing so well. Special thanks to Simon Grant for turning out and playing like a demon. Also well done again to our try scorers, Dave Connelly, Tom Astles, Stuart Millward and of course Richard Pickford. Next week we are away to Ashton On Mersey 2nds. We Were: T Astles, S Grant, C Davenport, R Pipe, S Jones, B Middleton, S Thorneycroft, R Pickford, MHJ, A Green, J McEvoy, D Connelly, P Bradford, S Millward, S Marchant Subs: S Astles (Capt), J Keeble, S Grocott, D Wilde, Mark Read.