Rylands Sharks 16 Widnes St Maries 50

RYLANDS sharks started life in the NWML Premier Division with a heavy home defeat to last year's Grand finalist Widnes St Maries in a game where the scoreline does not really tell the story.

Sharks started the game well and took the lead when Chris Meacock darted over from dummy half.

Rylands were well in the game at 6-4 with 35 minutes on the clock until a lapse in concentration either side of half time meant somehow the sharks found themselves trailing 22-4 on 45 minutes.

From that point on they were chasing the game.

Poor ball retention and completion rate gave the Widnes side possession time and time again in the second period.

St Maries needed no second invitation and were clinical in putting the sharks to the sword.

The sharks did get on the score sheet in the second half through Chris Meacock's second try and one from debutant Nick Braide, with Jack Lewis adding two conversions but it was never going to be enough.

Despite the defeat and the scoreline head coach Matt Wilson saw enough in the performance to know that his side will be fine in the 2015 season.

He said: "That score line doesn’t do the guys justice.

"We had a real disciplined game plan and structure and for 35 minutes the guys had implemented it to a tee. We defended really well and were causing them problems with the ball but then we went away from that and turned over far too much ball and our kicking game fell apart and if you give a team like St Maries Ball and field position they are going to hurt you.

"I spoke to the players after the game and told them the same thing – we will be ok in this league and we are not far away, we just need to learn to manage games a little better and fix up our kicking game but we still conceded 50 points at home and that needs addressing and we will be working hard this week to put that right ready for Clock Face next Saturday.”

Best for Rylands were Pete Price, Chris Dean and Rob Campbell, while Adam Prendagast stood out for St Maries.

Rylands: Luke Walker; Chris Meacock, Matty Taylor, Adam Thompson, Pete Price; Craig Harris, Jack Lewis; Ryan Butler, Jamie Trantum, Chris Dean, Lewis Litherland, Nick Braide, Sam Hughes. Subs: Dave Walker, Rob Campbell, Sean Withington, Matty Burn.