Cheshire 19 Lancashire 54
Lancashire opened their 2023 Sir Bill Beaumont County Championship campaign with a fine 8 try away win against Cheshire at Birkenhead Park’s Ground. In a brilliant 1st half display they ran in five tries for a 0-33 lead after 40 minutes. Ben Gregory opened the scoring in the first few minutes, and notched a 2nd at the back of a driving maul that the Cheshire pack couldn’t handle. Fylde team mates Greg Smith and Jordan Dorrington, and Preston Grasshoppers wing Jacob Browne added further tries before the break.
The 2nd half opened in much the same vein with Sedgley Park winger Rhys Henderson grabbing his side’s 6th try and this was extended to 0-47 thanks to a penalty try minutes later. Cheshire, including 8 Sale FC players and 7 from Chester, opened their account with a converted try by Jimmy Preston and followed this with another shortly afterwards by Oskar Hirsky-Douglas.
A 2nd Henderson try extended the Red Rose county’s lead to 14-54 before a final Cheshire try by Nathan Beesley finished off the scoring for the day. Lancs fly-half Greg Smith had a productive afternoon with a try and five conversions before being forced off with an ankle injury. Will Hunt replaced him and kicked the final conversion..
Cheshire certainly raised their game in a rather fractious 2nd half which saw four yellow cards and a red one but Lancashire were never in danger of losing their supremacy.
Lancashire, who have dominated the County Championship in the last 15 years, are aiming to reach their first final in five years. They travel to face Hertfordshire at Hertford RFC’s ground on Saturday 13th May and finish the group stages with a tie against Yorkshire at Sedgley Park’s ground on 20th May.
Lancashire’s Squad Co-ordinator Mark Nelson said: “The players responded superbly to the excellent preparation by the new coaching team and the management group. That was as good a performance by a Lancashire team, particularly the first half, I’ve seen, and I have seen a lot. This is a great start and with the challenges of a very long haul to Hertfordshire next and Yorkshire the following week the group is looking to build on the foundations put down at Birkenhead Park.“
The photo below is, left to right, Fylde players Henry Higginson and Corey Bowker who made their senior county debuts and a capped Connor Wilkinson who was recognised for his 10th appearance. Lancashire’s new Head Coach Alex Loney is far right and marked his first game in charge with this notable victory.
The other photo is courtesy of Kieran Free & The Rugby Paper.
