North West Counties Division 3

Saddleworth Rangers 42 Vs Heysham Atoms 8

Heysham Atoms travelled to Saddleworth Rangers on Saturday to complete a fixture which had already fallen foul of the weather on two previous occasions this year.

Third time lucky it wasn't, whilst the rest of the country was being doused with rain, Saddleworth, sitting high on the Pennines , threw an unpleasant combination of hail and sleet at the plucky rugby combatants with the final wallop of winter weather.

Saddleworth kicked off with a strong wind on their backs and received an Atoms team determined to keep up their good recent form.

Chris Helme started the Atoms' go forward with a powerful drive into the strong wind. Shaw took the ball up the half way mark to set the Atoms up in their opponent's half. Marrin, busy at hooker orchestrated a set piece move and the ball was sent through the hands making further inroads into the Saddleworth defence.

The attack ended disappointedly with a knock on, scrum to Saddleworth.

Saddleworth's initial touches of the ball suggested nothing special, they struggled to bring the ball out of their own quarter, giving the Atoms an increased level of confidence early on in the game.

Saddleworth completed their set and kicked downfield. The Atoms were unable to field the ball cleanly and the knock on gave the Rangers' attack the first opportunity close to the Atoms' line.

It was an opportunity not to be missed by Saddleworth who pushed the Atoms down the left flank and scored out wide.

On a day of mud, wind and hail it was clear the game was going to be decided by the team who could adapt to the conditions and make the least mistakes. Under the posts the Atoms discussed the importance of completing their sets.

After the restart, McVernon and Scanlon made good yards out of defence. Sean Weed was starting to come into the game more and more with penetrating individual runs. Billy Livingstone, switched to half back for the day was running the right hand side of the field with good effect and fed the ball out to Cumbrian centre-three quarter Stuart Lacey. The Atoms were confident taking the ball up to Saddleworth, and made good yards with each set, but ultimately ineffective at penetrating the defence line.

A penalty for a high tackle put the Atoms on the backfoot again, giving Saddleworth an attacking position they scarcely deserved. Once again, Saddleworth found their way over the line without having played much impressive rugby. 12-0 to Rangers and the Atoms were looking at each other in disbelief under the posts.

In the next set, hard working skipper Mark Walker got the Atoms back into the game with a close range try from dummy half. This followed the hard yards which set up the position by Shaw and Scanlon.

Unfortunately the conversion was missed due to the acute angle out left, but the Atoms scoreboard was finally up and running.

Errors from both sides in subsequent sets set the tone. A ‘wing' set out of defence saw wingers Martin Pike and Jake Harrison brought into the game, relieving the pressure on the hard working forwards. The Atoms completed the set and forced Saddleworth bring the ball out from their own ‘20'.

An organised and forceful defence from the Atoms pressurised Saddleworth into making some high risk plays to try and get out of their own half. An alert Billy Livingstone pounced and intercepted a pass destined for the Saddleworth centre Kevin Fitzpatrick. Scorching the wet earth, Billy raced 40 yards to touch down. The unsuccessful conversion left the score at 12-8.

This score seemed to galvanise Saddleworth into playing the best rugby of the half. Finding a weakness down the right flank, they exploited it and scored two well-worked converted tries in subsequent sets to leaf the Atoms floundering after having fought their way back into the game.

Half time 24-8

The second half continued much in the same vein, with the Atoms making good progress upfield, but unable to find the final pass to break down the Saddleworth defence. The Atoms were confident that with the assistance of the wind and some tightening up of their play, the deficit could be overcome.

However it was not to be. After gamely battling on for much of the game, Skipper Mark Walker left the field of play injured.

Further tries were conceded, and the without the leadership of the skipper, discipline within the Atoms' ranks waned. Questioning the referees decisions was never likely to win themselves any favours, and subsequently the Atoms game plan went out of the window.

16 year old Anthony Livingstone entered the field of play to join older brother Billy and father Pete. In a short spell Anthony showed the selectors much promise with an willingness to get involved in all aspects of the team's play. A cover tackle to stop a Saddleworth break was shortly followed by a drive into the Saddleworth defence close to the line showed that his courage is not in short supply.

Next week, Heysham Atoms complete their league program with an away fixture at Widnes St Maries (KO 2.30).

Men of the Match: 1. Sean Weed 2. Rob Shaw 3. Michael Marrin

Heysham Atoms: 1. Sean Weed 2. Jake Harrison 3. Stuart Lacey 4. Michael Holmes 5. Martin Pike 6. Neil Walker 7. Billy Livingstone 8. Dave McVernon 9. Michael Marrin 10. Chris Helme 11. Rob Shaw 12. Dan Scanlon 13. Mark Walker 14. Gavin Winder 15. Anthony Livingstone 16. Pete Livingstone 17. Lee Harvey