Rugby Union: Martin Jones: We aren’t worried

Sep 5 2007 by Our Correspondent, Liverpool Daily Post

WEST PARK could only drag out a few positives after their 22-0 defeat at Preston Grasshoppers.

”It wasn’t the start we wanted,” said head coach Martin Jones.

“But to be fair we were blighted by injuries and we knew we would be up against it.

“We were not only without our skipper Stephen Briers but also the experience of Neil Ryan at fly half who had to cry off with a groin strain.

“We had an even longer list of absentees than we could have imagined but there are no excuses,” he added.

The Merseysiders started in disarray and early signs – with Andy Soutar out of place in the centre and young debutant Darren Forshaw struggling defensively – were clearly that they needed to sharpen up.

To their credit they dug deep to compete and apart from conceding a penalty before the interval they held Hoppers at bay before former Red Rocks scrum-half Phil Webster rubbed salt in the visitors’ wounds with a third touchdown near the end.

One aspect that must have delighted Martin Jones was the performance of their 18 -year-old debutant Adam Anderson, who was playing his first senior game since learning his rugby with Liverpool Collegiate juniors and at Kirkham GS.

He showed a lot of guts behind the Park pack and his passing was impressive throughout.

“We are not downhearted,” Jones added. “The lads are still very positive and several key players return this weekend at Macclesfield.”