THERE were plenty of weather casualties on the rugby union front as winter arrived with a vengeance on Saturday but some matches did survive.

Caldy played at Stockport in National Two North but went down to their third successive defeat, again by a very narrow margin.

It finished 18-14 to the East Cheshire outfit after an excellent second-half fight back by the local side just failed to tip the balance.

Caldy were held up on route to the Headlands Road Memorial ground and had little time to prepare properly.

They were soon behind and Stockport by the break were 15-0 to the good via two tries, a conversion and a penalty.

Touchdowns from Harry Broadbent and Nick King plus both goals by Andy Soutar put Caldy within a point in the third quarter but Stockport kicked a long range penalty and somehow the home side held out under severe sustained pressure in the closing stages.

Caldy believed Neil Dowridge had crossed but the referee ruled the ball had been held up and the final whistle followed soon afterwards.

The Birkenhead Park v Chester match in National Three North did not go ahead and it was the same for the North One fixtures involving Anselmians v Wilmslow and Wirral v Sandbach.

New Brighton did play in South Lancashire/Cheshire One and put recent disappointments behind them as they saw off Collegiate 38-7 at Hartsfield.

Kati Tuipulotu made a successful return for New Brighton with three of their six tries against Collegiate.

Jack Harris crossed twice and Matt Cook once with Luke Thompson landing five of the conversions.

Collegiate grabbed a converted interception try late on.

The result was never really in doubt as the Blues moved into third place in the table.

Oldershaw did not have a happy trip to the Isle of Man in Division Two, going under 0-57 at the hands of Douglas.

Other games called off included Ashton on Mersey v Hoylake and Ellesmere Port v Crewe and Nantwich.

No fixtures were scheduled in South Lancashire/Cheshire Three.

There is now a three-week break from league competition for the players during Christmas and New Year. Play will resume on January 7.

There will be action at Holm Lane on Boxing Day with Parkonians staging their annual Brothers v Veterans match which has a 1.30pm kick-off.