Rugby: No luck for Douglas at Altrincham Kersal

Vagabonds edged out by Ellesmere Port at Ballafletcher

Report by Dave Christian:

Douglas’ hopes for an away win were dashed as Altrincham Kersal came out 26-15 winners in Regional 2 North West. Kersal’s pitch had taken a battering in the recent rain and the game was switched to the 4G surface at Lymm to make sure it went ahead.

The two sides were tied for eighth place in the standings but the bonus point win for Kersal sees them jump clear of Douglas who drop to ninth. Bryn Snellgrove and Craig McGee picked up tries for Douglas with Luke Hyland converting one and adding a penalty.

Vagabonds edged out in tight game

After losing away by just a point Vagas knew that their home fixture against Ellesmere Port was likely to be tight, it turned out exactly that, with Ellesmere claiming a 10-3 victory at a windy Ballafletcher.

Cam Findlay’s penalty midway through the first half opened the scoring and put Vagas in front. Shortly afterwards Ellesmere hooker Niall Wallis crossed for the visitors and Mark Kingsley's conversion saw the teams turn around with Ellesmere holding a 7-3 lead. Kingsley’s second half penalty was the only other score of the game.

Big win for Southport against Vagabonds Ladies

A visit from the unbeaten league leaders is never usually a good thing, but Vagabonds did show some grit despite losing 10-67 to Southport in Women’s NC1 North West. Southport flanker Mary Coleman was the undoubted star of the show running in seven tries herself. There were also tries from Olivia Jessup, Amelia McKeown, Rachel Porter and a penalty try. Faye Gaskin weighed in with six conversions. For Vagas Jess Swales dived over in the first half and Corrina Daly finished off late in the second.

Wins for Ramsey and Southern Nomads in Ravenscroft Manx Trophy

The new look Manx Trophy got underway this weekend with wins coming pretty much as expected for Ramsey’s Reds and Southern Nomads Greens.

The Reds linked up with Castletown and Western Vikings and won 57-12 at Poulsom Park. Brayden Roche bagged a hat trick, Connor Cracknell and Greg Radcliffe two apiece and there were also tries from Johnny Dean, Henry Swithinbank and Eddie Lord. Dale Radcliffe converted four, with Cracknell and Lord adding one conversion each.

At Ballakilley Nomads Greens took on Ramsey Blues and the Eastern Barbarians winning 60-24. Orry Watterson grabbed a hat trick for Nomads. There were two apiece for Finn McGregor and Tom Collister and one each for Harry Brereton, Tony Quinn and the evergreen Tom Davies. Mark Young added the conversions. For the visitors Ben Hardman went over twice with other tries from Joe Flanagan and Josh Corteen and two conversions for Brandon Atchison.

**