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By Wilf Dooley

Trafford MV Rugby Club rounded off their Centenary season with an away game at Littleborough Rugby Club played in gale force conditions as storm Kathleen battered the North West.

With the League title and promotion already in the bag Trafford were looking to round off their season in style however Littleborough had one thing on their mind and that was to spoil the party. Which they subsequently did with a deserved and committed 37-24 win.

Trafford entered the game with a number of player and positional changes and in the first half found themselves playing up hill on a sloping pitch and into an unforgiving wind.

The first 15 mins were spent pinned deep in the Trafford half which resulted in Littleborough kicking long and to the left which was chased and touched down to open the scoring, the wind assisted conversion attempt veered wide 5-0. The strong wind was dominating both ball possession and position on the park.

Lineouts were repeatedly ‘not straight’ and kick’s out of defence were almost impossible. Littleborough were intent on using the wind and the sloping pitch to the best advantage while they had them in their favour. A long kick to the left again proved beneficial as Littleborough chased down once again to get the try, this time the conversion was made 12-0.

Any ball that Littleborough won was kicked deep into the Trafford corners and as the ball went deep right the kick chase was there again to pressure mistakes and force a third try with the conversion blown well wide 17-0 and Trafford were looking unable to respond.

Similar tactics were used by the home side on a further two occasions with tries resulting in the sloping right hand corner of the pitch 27-0. both conversions were missed thanks to the blowing gale. Trafford saw a glimmer of hope as the half was drawing to a close as they drove up the pitch keeping ball in hand and maintaining possession for the first time in the game.

Tyler Stevens forced his way over to get Trafford on the scoreboard, Pat Eccles had no chance with the conversion attempt into the gale. The teams swapped ends at 27-5 to Littleborough. 

Trafford were hopeful that they would be able to turn around the large deficit and this looked possible as they played in the Littleborough half and moved the ball to left wing Joe Owen who outflanked his marker to score wide on the left, Pat Eccles was assisted by the wind and slotted over the conversion 27-12.

Littleborough were however using the ball well and were not giving Trafford the opportunity to kick deep so much. They drove up field and worked their way over the try line to the left of the uprights, a good conv attempt drifted wide 32-12.

Winger Joe Owen struck again for MV in similar fashion as he rounded his marker and tracked infield to score behind the post for a comfortable kick for Pat Eccles 32-19. It was now getting to be a time limitation as Littleborough were managing the ball and Trafford were not commanding either possession nor position on the park.

Very poor defence from Trafford allowed the home side to cross again to the wide right , conversion missed 37-19. Trafford kept battling away but the damage had been done in the first half, Mica Dyos drove over from close range in the dying minutes with the conversion being missed to end a well refereed game at 37-24 to the home side.

Head Coach Brian Collier gave the Player of the Match award to Joe Owen and captain Danny Burke received the League Winners Cup from Lancashire Senior Vice President Brian Hurst after the final whistle.

Trafford now head into the close season celebrating their Centenary success and looking to regroup again for pre-season and building an even more cohesive and stronger squad for their next campaign in the higher League. They are accompanied in their promotion by New Brighton who finished in 2nd place – 13 league points behind Trafford MV.

The Club thanks all it’s supporters for their backing during the season and look forward to their ongoing support in the 2024/25 season ahead