A well drilled performance at Port-e-Chee against Crewe & Nantwich earned Santander Douglas a fourth home win on the bounce.
The win the try bonus point performance moves Douglas level with Altrincham Kersal in 7th.
Crewe and Douglas are old foes dating back to the 1960/70’s when knocking each other out of the Cheshire Cup on regular occasions, and on a day where all six homes sides won in the Division, Douglas needed a strong start against a team one place and four points behind.
And they got one through the familiar Bryn Snellgrove – Sam McCord combination in just the fourth minute of play.
Possession of Crewe
Possession on the Crewe twenty-two metre line saw Snellgrove fire a cross-kick away toward the right touchline, and winger McCord’s radar picked up the try-scoring opportunity to burst over wide out.
Snellgrove’s conversion missed, and although Douglas dominated territory for the next 20 minutes, Crewe’s defence was unyielding and forged a slight edge in the scrum.
Snellgrove’s penalty for 8-3 after 29 minutes came from pressure over the ball by Blake Everson, Mark Oldfield and Harry Cartwright, Owen Carvin subbed Ralph Clarke from the bench, and on the cusp of half-time Douglas struck again after several driving phases 30-metres out.
Front-rower’s Gihard Visagie and Simon Hoddinott moved the ball from right to left in midfield and set Charlie Henthorn up with a hint of space on the left wing for 13-0.
Logan Lynch converted a Crewe penalty during a rare excursion into Douglas territory for 13-3, but after the break Douglas moved up a gear.
Defence Wall
Snellgrove tapped over a 30-metre penalty for 16-3, and Douglas scrum-half Nathan Robson wriggled beneath a defensive wall for a try in the 50th minute that Snellgrove converted.
Hooker Visagie was hitting double top in the lineout, Liam Kirkpatrick seemingly suffering no after-effects of injury a couple of weeks ago, and as Douglas surged toward towards the Crewe posts, Robson shipped a short ball to the right.
Visagie’s swift hands sent the ball on to skipper Blake Snell, who conjured a delightful flick around his back to the loitering McCord who strolled in with Hoddinott outside.
Try-bonus point in the bag, Ryan Wren made a Douglas debut, and centre Josh Duncan punched a hole in the Crewe defence, fending off tacklers on his way to a fine individual 25-metre score and 33-3.
McCord’s hat-trick arrived in the 78th minute as centre James Ross joined the fray from the bench, ghosting through the Crewe line and unselfishly feeding McCord 10 metres out.
Snellgrove converted to bring up 40 points, a personal 10-point contribution from the boot as Douglas eye up next week’s contest at Winnington Park.
The final score was Douglas 40 – 3 Crewe and Nantwich.
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