Crewe & Nantwich RUFC under 15s celebrate as Shield winners

Crewe & Nantwich RUFC Under 15s crowned a successful season with a fine victory in the Cheshire Shield.

The team had to battle through tough quarter and semi-finals before fighting hard to beat Wilmslow in the final minutes.

In the quarter-finals, Crewe played away at Wirral RFU and in a very close match Crewe scored a try to win the game 17 – 10.

In the semi-finals, Crewe were drawn against Capenhurst RFU.

It was another highly competitive and entertaining match which ended 17-17, but as Crewe had scored the first try and were the away team they progressed to the final.

The finals were held at Wirral RFU and Crewe faced a strong Wilmslow side.

Crewe started strongly with a try from Finn Thorold who ran down the right wing and managed to find the space in between the Wilmslow defensive line and the conversion was converted by Max Harrison.

Wilmslow bounced back and managed to get a try but missed their conversion.

Crewe immediately dug deep and a good move down the centre near the Wilmslow try line gave Ed Condon the chance to pick the ball up, putting it over the try line. The conversion made it 14-5.

A second try for Wilmslow with a missed conversion made it 14-10 at the break.

The start of the second half brought out a more fired up Wilmslow and they scored a third try to take a narrow lead.

Then the final 10 minutes saw the lead changing hands three times.

Crewe’s Joseph Kennedy picked up the ball from just after the halfway line and ran through Wilmslow’s line and scored in the left corner, despite breaking his collar bone as he scored.

Wilmslow then matched this and scored a try to take the the lead again.

But in a final dramatic play of the match, Fin Thorold ran down the left wing and pushed through a number of opponents and to score the try.

Charlie Carter successfully kicked the conversion from a challenging angle and Crewe won the game 26–20.

Coach Tony Condon said: “In true rugby spirit, both sets of players and parents clapped what was a very entertaining, end to end, game of rugby!”

The under 15s will now move up to Crewe & Nantwich Academy for next season.

Crewe & Nantwich welcome any players who are interested in joining.

Visit www.cnrugby.uk and click on ‘Contact Us’ if you would like more information or contact details for the different age groups.