The Crusaders rebounded from the Moortown fiasco with a comfortable win in the Merit League. After finishing the last match with just 9 players things looked good with 20 players named on the Thursday night team sheet but Thursday isn’t Saturday so by kick off time Wetherby had 15 players ready to go, not perfect but better than 9.

Wetherby kicked off and were awarded a penalty from the first breakdown as Mods went off their feet at the ruck. Wetherby opted to kick for 3 points but missed narrowly. The ball may or may not have gone dead but Mods didn’t touch it down and the kick chase spooked Mods into running the ball out. They gave away another penalty for going off their feet at the ruck and this time the Crusaders went for the corner. From the resulting set piece the Crusaders went down the blind side with Andy Gillighan passing to Wing Tom Stearn who returned the pass for Gillighan to score in the corner. Conversion missed 5-0.

Weth were quickly on the attack again and were dominating both position and possession with Mods struggling for organisation at this point. From a powerful scrum in the right hand corner big Will Cayton powered through a few defenders to score. The conversion missed again. 10-0.

Weth were making good yards with ball in hand and intelligent kicks and were soon camped on the Mods line again. This time scrum half Jack Radcliffe forced his way over in the right hand corner after spinning out of a couple of challenges. Again the conversion was missed. 15-0.

Now it was the turn of the outside backs to make some major inroads into the Mods defence Tom Stearn, Barney Jennings and Gareth Plant were causing serious problems with their speed out wide. A sweeping move from right to left with good hands from Rory Ffoulkes and Matt Hawkins saw Barney Jennings fly into the corner. Guess what? Yes the conversion went wide. 20-0.

The remainder of the half saw Mods starting to put together some possession and the Crusaders attack lost a bit of shape. Talking of things that have lost a bit of shape, Sean Lally made his much awaited return from the USA where as well as coaching Soccer he has obviously enjoyed the food! Anyway after supporting a Barney Jennings break he ran out of energy and fumbled the pass just before entering the end zone. No Touchdown!

In the Second Half things were much closer. Mods got progressively better and weren’t giving away as many penalties so chances were harder to come by. The Wetherby forwards with Watty, Frank and Lally in the front row were well on top though and from a 5 yard scrum Will Cayton went over again. The conversion was missed again! Gareth Plant who was causing chaos with his powerful running hadn’t brought his kicking boots 25-0.

The mid section of the second half was pretty uneventful although Lally did force his way over the line only for the try to be disallowed for using the ref as a shield. Blocking isn’t allowed over here Sean! Flag on the play No Touchown!

In the last play of the game Barney Jennings scythed through the tiring Mods defence but was just snagged by the last defender he managed to offload to Captain for the day Matt Bartle who went over by the posts. After missing the previous 6 kicks Gareth Plant was spared the embarrassment of missing all 7 so Jack Radcliffe did the honourable thing and put the drop kick wide. Final Score 30-0.

MoM – Will Cayton – 2 tries, big carries and some hits that the Mods boys will still be feeling. Barney Jennings was also excellent but isn’t allowed to drink a full pint of beer yet.

DoD – Sean Lally – Welcome Home!