| Friday, 19 August 2022 | 18's | Ince Rosebridge | Home | 26-24 | Well Judes pulled out their performance of the season to get us into the Lancashire Cup Final. Two teams going at each other for the full 70 minutes, not one relenting any intensity. A great crowd of spectators, who really did help us over the finish line, with a consensus that this was the best game played at Judes and totally worthy of a Final.
Out the blocks, Judes were immediately awarded a penalty and when we thought Judes would just take a settler, Brogan had other ideas and steamed through several defenders to crash over and score a strong try, giving us the perfect start. Judes relinquish the ball on half-way and Bridge hit back and were soon camped on our line. Their hooker took the play of the ball and in true hooker style sneaked under our defenders legs to record their first. Judes started to show some really solid defence, matching Bridge’s strong attack and some slick passing saw Judes take it to Bridge line. Great hands with the ball moving from right to left to slip the ball to Danny W to finish off in the corner to score the first of his 4 try haul, gaining him a much-deserved Man of the Match award.
Bridge try a short kick off, which paid off for them when they retained possession, thankfully they knock-on further in the set. Judes attacking set saw them awarded a penalty for use of the elbow and this set up Judes in a great spot to attack. Calum P, was soon running his strong line and diving over, unfortunately, was deemed to knock the ball on over the line. We get the ball out again to Daniel W, which had worked earlier, but this time the Referee pulled us back for the final pass being forward, so again Judes were denied. Bridge counter attack and were heading for the line, only for Daniel’s hand, they would have been in again, unfortunately this gave them an extra set on our line with Bridge scoring in the opposite corner. Bridge started to get on the front foot, but superb defence from Judes took the sting out of their tail. Then as we head into half time, something happened verbally near our line, which saw a Bridge player red carded and took no further part in the game, although they still had the slight lead at half time 10 points to our 8.
Judes were unsure what to expect second half with Bridge having a man down, but this seemed to spur Bridge on that little bit more. Judes were the first to score though with a carbon copy of Daniel W’s first try, with Brogan breaking through and passing to Daniel who used his speed to score tight in the corner. Bridge started to pick up the pace and somehow found an overlap in Judes defence and repaid the favour and scored in the opposite corner. This game was relentless, end to end stuff with each team not wanting to relinquish the lead. Unfortunately, Judes were a little keen and were caught off-side and help Bridge down the pitch. Before long they are camped on our line and again somehow force their way over for back-to-back tries and sneak into the lead 18-12. Judes get off their line strongly and force Bridge to knock-on, this gave Judes great territory and up step McKenzie, who had promised us a try tonight, ran really strongly and with defenders on his back delivered on his promise! With the conversion missed though, Judes remained slightly behind 16-18. The clock was really ticking against us, but this game felt far from lost. Roman kicks over and the kick was defused by Bridge and they showed urgency to tap and go. They did break through, but superb defence on our wing force the Bridge player into touch. The minutes were really ticking away now and thankfully Judes get a turnover ball when Bridge play it incorrectly. Bridge did all they could to slow the game down and dampen any momentum Judes got, but the players seemed to rise above it and showed what they’re good at and push the ball through hands, again finding Walshy who’d tracked all along the line, got the ball and somehow managed to score his hatrick on his opposite wing! Judes were finally back in the lead 20-18. Seconds later the Ref awards Bridge a penalty for us stripping the ball and they obviously opt for the 2 in front of the sticks….all square!!
This game was definitely in the balance and not a good one for the nerves! With Bridge still on the attack, everyone thought they’d go for the drop goal, instead they opted to run it which paid off when they spread it to the wing and went over, celebrating like they’d won the game 24-20!! Couple of minutes to go at best and last chance saloon for Judes. In the past we’d have probably played out the last minutes and suffered a loss, but there seemed to be a calm that came over Judes and having to wait to restart for an injury to Bridge, gave them time to focus and decide how to win this game. Cal S put in a superb pin-point short kick off and Cal P chased hard and got to the ball first. Judes had the ball, they didn’t panic, they again put it through hands and Cal S got it to Brogan who off-loaded to Walshy who had the tiniest of gaps to high dive into to score his fourth, the crowd went wild, knowing we’d at least get extra time with the draw. Up step Roman, who’d had really tough kicks out wide all night and not managed to clear any. He kept his cool though, lined up the kick on the touch line and took a deep breath, whilst all we could do is hold our breath and watch! Roman has never kicked a more crucial conversion with the ball sailing over to everyone’s elation and Judes seal the win 26-24.
A really strong, determined and mature performance by Judes. What a spectacle this game was it had everything, end to end stuff and saw both teams give absolutely everything they’d got. We’d not managed to beat Bridge in the last couple of seasons, so what a time to do it to send us into the Lancashire Cup Final! Absolutely outstanding game lads, you deserve to be in that Final. What a team WELL DONE!!!!! |
