Trafford MV suffer away defeat opener at Liverpool St Helens

By Wilf Dooley

Trafford MV (TMV) opened their season with a Lancashire Trophy fixture at Liverpool St Helens (LSH), and a depleted availability list due to holidays and absences saw a disappointing start to the campaign.

With players taking the field out of position, mistakes were going to be inevitable, and in the early skirmishes, TMV lost centre Aaron Fagan to a yellow card for a clash of heads in a defensive tackle.

LSH kicked the resultant penalty 3-0. The scores were leveled within minutes as TMV forced a penalty for Aaron Booth to slot the kick 3-3. LSH were looking sharp, and a breakthrough through the centres, exploiting TMV’s missing man, saw the home side score under the posts and convert, making it 10-3.

A further attack saw LSH break down the right wing; missed tackles allowed them to score under the posts, converted 17-3. Trafford were looking in real trouble as strong driving play from the home side in the left corner saw a driving maul crash over.

Conversion missed 22-3. Spirits were raised for a short time as a TMV driving maul in the left corner resulted in a try for hooker Phil Simms, converted by Booth, 22-10. The well-being was short-lived as a quick tap penalty by LSH caught MV sleeping, and poor tackles allowed for a converted try under the posts, 29-10 going into Half Time.

Trafford MV needed to score early to get back in the game, and they did so; another lineout catch and drive brought a try for TMV from Abdul Mirza, unconverted 29-15. Defence was just not strong enough for the visitors, and scrappy MV defence let LSH in to the left of the sticks, converted 36-15.

The TMV defence opened up once again, and LSH took advantage with a soft try, converted 43-15 to finalize the score and put Trafford out of the Trophy in the first round.

Lots for Trafford to work on as players return, and a cohesive squad is built. This coming weekend sees the same fixture again as TMV return to LSH, this time in the first league game of the season.

Trafford MV will hold their annual South Of The River Beer Festival on 12/13th September in conjunction with the first home game of the Rugby season and the final weekend of the summer cricket season. Tickets are now on sale from the Club and online – check the event on Facebook and Eventbrite.