Crewe & Nantwich 1sts were thumped 14-51 by their South Cheshire rivals Sandbach in the Northern Division – Regional 2 North West.
Crewe & Nantwich were level on points with Sandbach, both having won two and lost one.
And they had hoped home advantage playing at the Vagrants would work in their favour.
Crewe & Nantwich kicked off and put early pressure on when they earned a couple of penalties in Sandbach’s half.
A big tackle from Sandbach’s second row Callum Oakden set the tone for the afternoon’s fierce contest and the visitors took control.
Sandbach earned a couple of penalties and their first visit into Crewe & Nantwich’s 22 created the opening try of the day.
Crewe brought down the maul and Laurie Essenhigh, Sandbach’s scrum-half, took a quick tap penalty and weaved through the defence to score.
Henry Mitchell secured the conversion and Sandbach were leading 0-7.
Minutes later and Sandbach had returned to Crewe & Nantwich’s half and another series of penalties left them with a lineout 5m out.
The maul drove over the try line and the young hooker Will Bowbeer went down to score.
A few minutes later Crewe & Nantwich werew on the scoresheet as they went quickly from a penalty. The conversion nudged the scores closer at 7-12.
Essenhigh scored his second try for the visitors and Mitchell converted to extend their lead.
Josh Brookes then charged over on the wing for Sandbach’s fourth try.
A yellow card to a Sandbach prop gave Crewe & Nantwich a route back into the game with the opportunity to score from the subsequent penalty.
They secured a try from a rolling maul and the successful kick moved the scores to 14-24.
Crewe & Nantwich forced a series of penalties, and the referee gave Sandbach’s replacement prop a yellow card.
The hosts opted for another scrum and because Sandbach couldn’t field a suitable front row, they had to play uncontested scrums.
They were penalised further and another player had to leave the field.
Sandbach were down to 12 players but a penalty was given against Crewe & Nantwich for obstruction and Mitchell kicked to touch to end the half.
As the second half started, Sandbach were still three men down.
But their defence repelled Crewe & Nantwich and earned a lineout.
They then kicked a penalty to add three more to the points.
Once they were back to 14 players, the visitors had the momentum and confidence again.
Fast-moving ball allowed Winger Matt Randle to run in and score the first try of the second half.
Crewe tried to catch Sandbach out with a grubber kick, but the visitors responded with their own attacking chip kick.
It eventually found Elliott Morris who breezed through to score as Sandbach extended their lead to 14-39.
Morris then scored his second try after some quick passing found him on the wing.
And George Cole would score the eighth and final try for Sandbach towards the end of the second half, which Mitchell converted.
(Match report by Rhys Fullerton, images by Tony Pennance)
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