Aireborough convincing winners at home to Stocksbridge

With almost as much certainty as Nunroyd Park turning in a swamp at the mere scent of rain in the air, the home side in this affair were again victors as Aireborough ran in nine tries against a beleaguered Stocksbridge side who, to their credit, did not stop fighting all game.

Aireborough were quick out of the blocks in the first 2.15pm kick off of the season and Captain Ollie Catherall soon had the home side on the scoreboard with a successful penalty kick after Stocksbridge were caught offside at a ruck.

Jonny Mackey extended Aire’s lead shortly after with a bulldozing run; which his player-sponsor Dave ‘Tank’ Greenwood would have been proud of, to cross the whitewash after Aireborough went through the phases. Unfortunately, the conversion was wayward and the score remained 8-0 to the home side.

Si Davies was forced into an early change with number 8 Adam Jackson leaving the field with a deep cut to this forehead after catching a wayward knee whilst falling on a loose ball and Luke Exley replacing him. No sooner was Luke Exley on the field then he was being congratulated for scoring a try following a good run from Jonny Mackey and support play by lock Richard Holmes. Ollie Catherall was successful with the conversion attempt to increase Aireborough’s lead to 15-0.

Richard Holmes was soon on the scoresheet himself after Aireborough turned the screw further on their shell-shocked opponents and, following a salmon-like leap from Holmes’s doppelganger, Jonny Hiles, found himself with ball-in-hand at the back of a rolling maul and with support from Rich Lister crashed over the try line for his first try of the season. The conversion was again wide as the score remained 20-0 to the home side.

Stocksbridge, to their credit, continued to plug away at Aireborough and were rewarded with a converted try to reduce the deficit to 20-7 with half an hour on the clock. They should have reduced the deficit further after going through the phases shortly afterwards whilst in the Aire ‘22m but wasted an excellent opportunity for another try as the ball was spilt under pressure when diving for Aireborough’s try line.

Aireborough punished Stocksbridge for their profligacy following an excellent break from scrum-half Stuart Wilson who, snubbing the easy offload to the supporting Rich Lister, threw a Hail Mary 30 yard pass which found Jonny Mackey on the wing. Mackey, displaying football skills similar to that of Lionel Messi, found Nick Holdsworth, sponsored by the Welsh Wizard Gwyn Jones, with a dainty kick through to also score his first try of the season. The conversion, from out on the wing (again!), was unsuccessful and the half ended shortly afterwards with a shrill of the referee’s whistle as Aireborough finished the half 25-7 up.

HT: Aireborough 25 v Stocksbridge 7

After some constructive feedback from Head Coach Davies during the half-time huddle, Aireborough started the second half strongly – looking to ruthlessly put Stocksbridge to the sword and put down a marker to the rest of the teams in the league. Lewis Barrett, sponsored by Bramley Garage, bounced his opposite number out of the way with a barnstorming run after the Wolfpack had marched Stocksbridge up the field. Nick Holdsworth was successful with his conversion attempt to give Aire a 32-7 lead with nearly an hour played.

With Aireborough winning the battle of the forwards, helped a long way through the size and power of Simon Hill and the returning Charlie Middleton, Stuart Wilson at scrum-half had plenty of ball, and time, to feed his backs who were putting moves together and looking sharp. Wilson was also keeping the Stocksbridge defence honest with his sniping around the rucks and set up Ollie Catherall, sponsored by Scoff, with a lovely run and beautiful offload from the tackle for Aireborough’s sixth try of the afternoon. The reliable left foot of Nick Holdsworth added the extras to increase Aire’s lead to 39-7.

The tries kept coming at Nunroyd Park as Aireborough kept up the pressure on their opponents. There should have been another very shortly afterwards as the backs carved open Stocksbridge again and Lewis Barrett found himself in acres of space with just the fullback to beat – and men on his shoulder. An outrageous dummy, which the fullback didn’t buy as he lined Barrett up and put him on his bum, cost Aireborough another try and earned Barrett the ‘Brown Ale Moment’.

Harley Stevenson-Cocks joined the try-party as Lewis Barrett learned how to pass as the backs continued to run wild against a tired opposite backline who were getting bogged down in the Nunroyd swamp. Jonny Mackey was in for his second, and Aireborough’s eight-try of the afternoon, a little while later with another unconverted try as Aireborough continued to find space out wide.

Stocksbridge were rewarded with a consolation try with 8 minutes to go as they plugged away at their hosts for a hard-worked try with the forwards going through the phases. Aireborough ended the game with a high though as a clever chip kick from Ollie Catherall was pounced upon by Thomas Copsey who tried his best to not score but eventually placed the ball over the try. Matty Jones slotted an excellent touchline conversion with the last kick of the game to bring it to a close with Aire winning 56-12.

FT: Aireborough 56 v Stocksbridge 12

This was a good performance against a tiring, and seemingly understrength, Stocksbridge side and Head Coach Davies will be pleased some of the rugby on display, including seeing the backs click and the forwards dominate their opponents. Davies was quick to highlight areas requiring improvement for the forthcoming visit to Knottingley on Saturday.

Man of the Match: Ollie Catherall’s performance, both on the ball and as leader of the team, was singled out by Davies as exceptional. His conversions might need some work but other than that this was an almost perfect display from Aireborough’s fly-half.

Stuart Wilson must surely have run Ollie close for the Man of the Match award with 5 assists and only one box kick going directly into touch...

Brown Ale Moment: As mentioned above; Lewis Barrett’s incredible act of selfishness when spurning a three-on-one opportunity earned him his bottle of Brown Ale. Barrett, surely knowing what was coming, hot-footed it out of the club as soon as he could – leaving Tom Holdsworth to do his punishment for him!