CONGLETON'S rugby men produced one of their best displays of the season on Saturday to beat Shell Carrington 12-3 in the league.

Shell had inflicted a heavy defeat on Congleton earlier in the year, and Congleton were missing several players through holidays and injury for Saturday's home match.

Neither side created any real chances in the first quarter, but the Congleton pack were showing they were really fired up.

Congleton took the lead in the 20th minute when a clearance kick was charged down and Stan Handley picked up the ball.

He slipped a pass to Alan Winship on the wing, who touched down in the corner for a try which was not converted.

Shell rallied to cut the Congleton lead to two points with a penalty on the half hour, and narrowly failed to score again as half time approached.

Congleton gave away a penalty, but the Shell kick hit the upright and was scrambled to safety.

The simmering tension of the game exploded 10 minutes into the second half when the Congleton players claimed Chris Edwards was stamped on.

Players were involved in a melee for several minutes, which ended with a Shell player being sent off and Congleton skipper Karl Rogers being cautioned.

Shell were under the cosh, and following a series of scrums hooker Dave Moss drive over the Shell line for a well-deserved try converted by Mark Winship.

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