Crewe & Nantwich - 20 Eagle - 5

IT was a happy New Year's start for Crewe & Nantwich RUFC when, in their first game of 1999, they defeated Warrington-based Eagle by a goal, two tries and a penalty goal to a single try.

This was certainly a crucial match for the side in their efforts to keep out of the bottom two relegation places and Saturday's result gives them at least a little breathing space but not much else as they later learnt the bottom two had also won their respective games.

That means a couple of wins still have to be engineered somehow from their remaining eight league encounters.

Saturday's game was only possible due to the heroic efforts of the ground staff who were confronted by a waterlogged pitch on the Friday and then ice bound patches on the Saturday morning. However all was well and the forwards certainly enjoyed themselves in the mud!

It was only three minutes into the game when Pete Jackson gave Crewe an early lead with a penalty but this was a false dawn as all Crewe's mistakes started appearing, losing the ball to the opposition even when it was their side of the rucks and mauls.

A line-out near the home line saw Eagle drive over and after the referee had peeled off the pile of players he awarded a try to the visitors.

Down 5-3 at half time Crewe looked in trouble but they raised their game and the forwards looked a different outfit, driving and rucking with a ferocity not seen all season.

Winning clean ball gave Jimmy Nicholson, who came on as a substitute after being out for 4 weeks with bruised ribs, an opportunity to outwit the opposition and score in the corner.

Danny Lynch then came into the line from full-back to score an excellent try with Dave Bexon completing a hat-trick of tries by the three-quarters, something not seen for many a day.

Man of the match was centre Richard Thomas whose devastating tackling kept Crewe in the game, certainly in the first half, with "Bugsy" Davies in the second row improving with every game.

The 2nds lost at Eagle by 17-11, the 3rds overwhelming Eagle 3rds by 57-5. The 4ths playing Leek 3rds went down by 19-10.

Next Saturday sees Crewe at the Wirral Club in another league encounter with the 2nds at home to Wirral (k.o. 2.30pm).

Converted for the new archive on 13 March 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.