Orrell 8, Oswestry Firsts 13
THIS week, the Eagles travelled to Orrell, who were looking to extend their six game unbeaten run at home.
Oswestry looked the livelier of the two sides straight from the kick-off with the forwards carrying deep into the Orrell half, before releasing the backs to make further ground.
This possession and territory was duly rewarded with a penalty which Kevin Evans kicked to give the visitors an early lead.
The Eagles continued to pressure with Evans kicking well from hand to keep the home side pinned back.
Oswestry were also applying severe pressure at the scrum, driving the home side off several of their own put-ins and were unlucky not to score after creating some good chances.
However, the visitors’ grip on the game gradually declined and a good line break by the Orrell fly-half gave them the chance to spread the ball wide in the face of a scrambling defence to score in the corner, the conversion missed.
The half time score was 5-3.
Captain Andy Smith urged the Eagles to increase their work rate and use the game plan, and he saw instant results as the visitors created an overlap through good ball-carrying by the forwards and testing of the fringe defence by Nick Clay.
The backs exploited this well with great hands and Luca Owen-Youens skipped through a tackle to make a line break before carrying two defenders over the line with him for a superb try in the corner, well converted from a tough angle by Evans.
Evans then followed this up with another superb kick from a penalty to put the visitors two scores ahead and soon after Jack Fox thought he had scored from a good kick by Evans but it was called back for offside.
The Eagles also showed their power with a rolling maul from a lineout but after making 20m it was collapsed by the opposition with the try line beckoning.
The hosts then applied some pressure to the Oswestry try line but it was well defended with some superb steals by Jake Northwood and Dan Williams.
Gaz Hughes then followed this up with a superb take from a 22m drop out giving the Eagles momentum.
But poor discipline by the forwards allowed Orrell a penalty attempt, converted well.
Soon after, Mike Davies was harshly shown a yellow card but Oswestry reacted well to their numerical inferiority, winning their scrums well and keeping the hosts out to the end.
The final score was 13-8 and this week the Eagles will travel to Moore hoping to get another away win to finish the season on a high and give them momentum going into the final of the Cheshire Bowl against Bowden on April 19.

Oswestry Seconds 43, Winnington Park 0

Oswestry Under 16s 19, Newport Under 16s 0
IN TOUGH conditions and a churned up pitch the game was constantly stopped for scrums although Oswestry managed to show their class with a convincing victory over Newport.
The game began with neither side managing to control and keep possession of the ball.
Despite this Oswestry were able to turn over the ball from both line-outs and scrums which gave them great confidence and they soon went on and scored the first try of the game with Will Napper making a darting run to score under the posts.
Fin Grogan converted to make the score 7-0 at half-time.
Oswestry began the second half strongly with long phases of possession and good territory and it soon paid off with good hands from the backs which led to Nick Howland sprinting around the defenders to score the second try of the game, with Grogan adding the two points.
Oswestry continued to dominate both in open play and at set pieces especially when they drove a five-metre scrum and the ball squirted out.
Luke Beckett swiftly pounced on the loose ball to make the score 19-0.
Newport reacted well as they got close to Oswestry’s line although Oswestry’s defence stood strong and soon the whistle went to signal full-time.
Oswestry now only have a few games left in the season and they seem to be becoming more comfortable going into the Colts league next year.