Caldy 10-9 Sale FC

CALDY secured the National 1 title with a brilliant display against promotion rivals Sale FC after a tough match at Paton Field on Saturday.

The Wirral-based club, which has three adult sides and a thriving minis and juniors scene, amassed 111 points from 28 matches to come out on top of a closely fought title race, with Saturday’s opponents, Sale, plus Rosslyn Park and Cambridge, leading the chasing pack.

Sale FC who started with a number of Sale Sharks academy players in the squad played the brighter of the two sides and took the lead after just three minutes through a penalty.

The game became a bit scrappy and Sale extended their lead just moments later through another penalty and the visitors strength and ability was hard for the Ravers to deal with.

With the large Paton crowd cheering them on Caldy took advantage of a lineout on the half hour mark, after another period of scrappy play and from five meters Adam Aigbokhe nipped through the defence to score under the posts to give the Ravers the lead for the first time in the afternoon.

In the second half Caldy looked to get more rhythm into the game and struggled against the great pressure Sale were putting them under and the visitors were rewarded by another penalty to retake the lead with half an hour remaining.

Caldy kept looking for the try that would give them the title but were unlucky not to get through on a number of occasions and Sale were able to deal with the final ball.

 

With the home crowd getting frustrated in the last 10 minutes Caldy were rewarded a penalty and Ben Jones decided to go for the points, but the League's top scorer drifted the ball to the right of the posts.

With just five minutes to go it looked as though Caldy’s chances had gone until they were awarded a penalty from 50 metres and Ben Jones stepped forward again and this time the Fly Half made no mistake.

The final moments were the most tense of the season with Sale attacking but unable to breakdown the Caldy backline.

 

At the final whistle a number of the club's mini and junior section were allowed onto the pitch to join in the celebrations which continued for many minutes until Caldy Captain JJ Dickinson was handed the National 1 Trophy.

Caldy will now be looking to continue this fantastic run as they head into the RFU Championship for Season 22/23 and come up against some professional clubs including Ealing Trailfinders, Doncaster and Jersey.