Ref’s decisions spark collapse

DUEL . . . Callum Megram tries to evade his marker.

RUGBY UNION: 

Southport 1stS 25, Oldham 1sts 10

AFTER leading 10-3 in the second half of this Lancashire Plate quarter-final, Oldham lost their composure, and with it the match.


A fine contest hinged on a couple of debated refereeing decisions in the second half, but Oldham should not have capitulated in the way they did. The scoreline was hardly a reflection of what was mostly a close match between two decent sides.

Oldham’s re-organised scrum, with Dean McEwan playing his first senior game in two years, back rower Lewis Simister at hooker and utility back Phil Graham on the flank, competed well and honours were largely even .

Both sides were guilty of some poor handling and average decision-making, especially Oldham who made four forward passes in the first 20 minutes.

Half-time arrived with the scoreline at 3-3 following a couple of penalties and Oldham, who had started slowly but grown into the game, kept a strong bench to try to keep tabs on their opponents’ high tempo game in the second half.

They opened up a 10-3 lead when Max Horsfall, returning as substitute after three months out, broke powerfully down the left wing and fed man-of-the-match Graham to finish in the corner.

A superb conversion by Callum Meagram gave Oldham daylight, but that was as good as it got.

Influential scrum half Will Mellor had to leave the field with a back injury, then Oldham squandered a two-man overlap in the opposition 20.

Hackman tried to slow play down and was penalised and dispatched to the sin bin. During the 10 minutes of his absence Southport scored a smart try in the corner before a mis-timed interception attempt, when facing a similar overlap on the other side, gave the hosts a walk-in by the post.

A further try followed after Southport’s lively scrum-half took a quick free-kick two metres in front of the referee's outstretched hand. While Oldham protested, Bailey brushed off a tackler to score by the posts.

The final try in the last minute gave a false appearance of a one-sided contest