You wait an age for a home derby and two come along at once. After last week’s opening win against Northwich, it was Winnington Park’s turn to make the short trip to Bradwall Road. Sandbach continued their exciting form in a nine-try rout, where both Laurie Essenhigh and Elliot Morris finished with four tries apiece.

October marks the beginning of a busy month for Sandbach with five consecutive games, including Park, Manchester, Warrington, Widnes and Wilmslow. If they continue playing how they did in the opening two games, it will be the beginning of a thrilling month.

Saturday’s match was superhero day and was held in memory of Patryk Milner, who tragically passed away six years ago at age seven and had a close association with Sandbach RUFC. Once again Sandbach donned special superhero match shirts in his honour. The shirts were raffled off after the game, with proceeds going to the Patryk Memorial Fund and Cardiac Risk in the Young (CRY).

With the Patryk Memorial match underway, Sandbach made a fast start, the opposite of last week, and opened with an early try. The playing conditions were ideal and an early break from fly-half Henry Mitchell saw the ball played out to Morris who went over for his first try of the afternoon.

Winnington Park responded with some points on the board from a penalty and then went further when they took the lead after eleven minutes with a try from a quick tap and go penalty.

Eight minutes later and several breaks from centre Ed Vitta, who was looking sharp all afternoon, put Sandbach in Park’s twenty-two. After numerous offloads, Morris took possession and scored his second try.

Capitalising on Winnington Park’s errors, Sandbach were once again close to the try line looking for more points. From a ruck, scrum-half Essenhigh scooped the ball, dummied and dotted down to make his mark on the game. The skipper scored again shortly after to secure the four-try bonus point, but Sandbach weren’t done with this match, let alone this half. George Perkins made a rare kick for Sandbach near halfway. With a good chase and a favourable bounce, Mike Barlow, making his second start of the campaign, went over for the try and at half-time, Sandbach had a 31-8 lead.

Morris stretched the lead in the second half after some patient phase play from Sandbach. It was an energetic opening and moments later the visitors picked up a yellow card for a late challenge, leading to another Morris try on the wing, his fourth of the game.
The match was opening up and this led to Winnington Park’s best period, where they enjoyed some possession. They scored their second try and had a ten-minute period where either their game had clicked into place or Sandbach were tiring. Perhaps a bit of both. Regardless, a strong defensive line was required.

Sandbach scored again on 65 minutes. With the ball being played from one wing to the other, an offload to Essenhigh allowed him to stroll in for his hat-trick, his second in consecutive games.

The skipper wasn’t done and with an attacking lineout for the home side and a quick offload in the air, Essenhigh shimmied through the defence to score his fourth and equal Morris’ tally for the day.

Winnington Park chased a bonus point of their own and got close with another try but they couldn’t get anything else from the game, apart from a yellow card and a 20m march backwards for dissent. At the final whistle, Sandbach won 55-22. Hooker Will Bowbeer picked up the player of the match award.

Sandbach will be proud of a strong attacking performance but will be equally buoyed by their defence when it mattered. It was a big commanding win and they’ve got their season off to the perfect start.

This try-scoring battle between Morris and Essenhigh is likely to continue for the rest of the season. Matt Randle will be looking to be top points scorer after adding five conversions to his tally. At the end of the second weekend, Sandbach top the table on points difference.

On Saturday, Sandbach face the tough task of Manchester at Grove Park. Manchester were relegated from Regional 1 North West last season and have opened their season with two wins. After back-to-back derby victories, the tough promotion rivals of Manchester will be another big challenge for Sandbach to overcome.

NEXT MATCH
Manchester 1st XV vs Sandbach 1st XV
Saturday 10th October
Grove Park, Cheadle Hulme

Match Report by Rhys Fullerton

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