September12th, 2009

Heysham Atoms 30

Vs

Langworthy Reds 8

Kukri North West Counties Amateur Rugby League

Division 3

Heysham Atoms kicked off their home campaign with a comfortable victory, impressing a vociferous home crowd basking in the late summer sunshine at Trimpell. Boosted by a renewed sponsorship deal with PortraitPools.com, the Atoms were showcasing their honed physiques from the intensive pre-season training schedule in new skin-tight jerseys.

The Atoms kicked off the game making use of the low summer sun to challenge the Langworthy team. A solid defensive set from the Atoms ensued while the forwards tested each other out. The initial drives from the Langworthy pack suggested their firepower was misfiring somewhat with all early challenges dealt with effectively. Props Dan Scanlon and Rob Shaw led the way with good hits putting Langworthy on the backfoot.

The Atoms started their first set with the ball in a strong position, just 40m out from their opponents’ line. Approach work from second rowers Mark Walker and Keith Hartlebury brought the Atoms within grasp of the first points. Rob Shaw took the ball up, drew his man and released Billy Livingstone into a gaping defensive hole. Scrum-half Livingstone put away the supporting Dan Scanlon who walked over for the first try. Converted by Livingstone, the Atoms led 6-nil with less than 6 minutes gone.

From the restart, Stephen Jackson took the high ball and cleared the Atoms’ line. Hooker Michael Marrin directed play from half back, and the Atoms brought the ball up the right hand side with Al Crookall - making his home debut - and Sean Weed doing the hard yards out of defence.

A solid period of play from both teams indicated the encounter might be closer than the initial exchanges suggested, but the Atoms slowly made progress upfield to exert more pressure on the Reds’ line. A good set close the line saw the ball swept through the hands, ending with Livingstone crossing to make the score. Converting his own try, the Atoms now led 12-nil.

With early game nerves across the whole team visibly settled, the Atoms were looking good for their lead and entered a period of sustained quality rugby, completing their sets without errors and penalties.

However the Atoms didn’t have everything their own way and after a great kick-and-chase, the Atoms conceded a needless penalty, laying on at the play-the-ball. Quickly followed by a high tackle, the Atoms gave up a promising field position, but solid tackling, with hooker Marrin leading the way, kept the Atoms defensive line intact.

Coach David Crow started to rotate his forwards, replacing Dan Scanlon for Chris Helme, shortly followed by Dave McVernon replacing Rob Shaw.

Al Crookall showed more promising touches, his great work in defence showing the Atoms coaching staff what a find the future he is.

However, the good defensive work was undone when the Atoms failed to field the high territorial kick from the Reds, and forced winger Jackson to take the safety-first option by booting the ball into Heysham Harbour.

The resulting drop out from the Atoms gave the Reds some rare pressure on the Atoms line and after spreading it wide went over in the corner for a deserved, but unconverted score.

Dave McVernon was undertaking sterling work in attack, repeatedly burying his opposite number into the ground. The half finished with a big hit from Mark Walker forcing a Reds knock on. The resulting scrum was won by the Atoms, and an attack by Stuart Lacey down the left hand flank was very nearly rewarded with a try.

At half time Jackson was swapped for Andrew Taylor, who immediately made his mark with a great run through the Reds’ line. On the last tackle, Marrin put in a clever chip over the defence which the scrambling Reds defence failed to deal with effectively, resulting in a scrum to the Atoms.

Another reshuffle from Coach Dave Crow saw Shaw returned to the field to replace McVernon, whilst Shane Weed returned to replace Chris Helme. Mark Walker temporarily exchanged the second row for the centre, and stood out wide to receive a great ball from brother Neil and then dummied his way past the Reds defensive line to register the Atoms’ third score of the afternoon. Livingstone converted, 18-4 to the Atoms.

All too often a team that scores relaxes and once again this was evident as the Atoms fell for the sucker punch and knocked the ball on from the kick off.

The Atoms defence was not for wilting however, with great tackling from the rested Shane Weed and Shaw leading the way the Atoms out of trouble. With the ball in hand once again, Al Crookall showcased his prowess in attack with a penetrating run, setting up the position for Mark Walker to make a break down field. The pass to the supporting Callum Hall looked to have set up a try, but the Reds’ fullback came out of nowhere to smother out the Atoms’ attack just short of the line. However the damage was done and a quick play the ball found Billy Livingstone who dived over through a disorganised defence. Again, the conversion by Livingstone was successful and the score was pushed out to a commanding 24-4.

The re-start was fielded by the impressive Callum Hall at full back. A 50 yard break by Hall returned the play to within striking distance of the Reds’ line. Rob Shaw stepped up to take the next play and found the pace and power to drive through the Reds defence like a steam train and grounded the ball underneath four would-be tacklers.

Another conversion by Livingstone added to his impressive points haul for the afternoon, as he staked an early claim to be the season’s top points scorer, with 24 points to his name so far, from just two matches.

The scoring ended with a consolation try for the Reds who gained some late possession and field position from a couple of dropped Atoms’ balls.

Portrait Pools.com Men of the Match:
Sean Weed
Mark Walker
Michael Marrin

Heysham Atoms:Callum Hall, Jake Harrison, Stuart Lacey, Al Crookall, Stephen Jackson, Neil Walker, Billy Livingstone, Rob Shaw, Michael Marrin, Dan Scanlon, Mark Walker, Keith Hartlebury, Sean Weed. Res: Shane Weed, Andrew Taylor, Dave McVernon, Chris Helme