Rugby Union: Caldy’s Woof hoping upturn continues at Harrogate

Jan 23 2008 by Gareth Davies, Liverpool Daily Post

WITH a number of games cancelled due to poor weather, Caldy gained valuable National Three North points by beating a strong Fylde outfit 22-7.

Caldy’s superior fitness and the kicking of Simon Mason produced an excellent result and well deserved victory.

And this week they travel back over the Pennines to face a resurgent Harrogate side. Harrogate were relegated from National Two last summer and initially struggled to cope with the rigours of National Three North.

In recent months however, results have dramatically improved for the Yorkshire outfit with successive away victories against Fylde and Preston, both of whom are in higher positions in the league.

But Caldy captain Shaun Woof said: “We have made significant improvements of our own over the past three to four weeks, which are coming about through the increased work rate and enthusiasm within the squad.

“After a tough start to the league campaign we are finally now playing for each other and, more importantly, playing outside the comfort zone.

“We are dominating the contact areas in both attack and defence. We are looking forward to the Harrogate game this weekend with nothing to fear. The half-back pairing of Brown and Wainwright are very good and we must look out for them.”

Caldy played Harrogate at home back in late September and managed to win 18-0 in a tight game which was decided by late tries for Ian Murray and the now-departed Loa Tupou. Harrogate were superb in defence in that game and had struggled with injuries prior to the game.

Elsewhere at the weekend, the Caldy Lions did not play at Waterloo due to a waterlogged pitch in Crosby. The third team had a tough game at home against table-topping Sefton, eventually losing 24-19 in poor conditions.

The fourth team played Birkenhead Park at home in an early kick-off and, despite tries from John Close and Geoff Waters, lost to a strong Birkenhead team.