CREWE & Nantwich RC travelled to Caldy in the NPI Cup and were far from outclassed in a 15-3 defeat by the Wirral side which were three leagues above Crewe having achieved promotion twice in the last two years.

Crewe adopted typical cup-tie tactics for a side faced with a mountain to climb. James Brewerton gave Crewe the lead with an early penalty goal and had another chance of putting Crewe further ahead but his long range kick just slid wide of the posts.

Caldy drew level with a penalty themselves in the second half and then from a line-out near the Crewe line drove over to score. However, Crewe were far from finished with Brewerton hitting an upright with another penalty effort, the ball rebounding to Simon Robertson who missed narrowly with a dropped goal attempt.

Just before the final whistle Caldy once more won a line-out on the Crewe line with the subsequent rolling maul finishing with a try.

If Crewe can transfer this spirit into future league games they should have a fair season. The pairing of the two Simons at half-back, Griffiths & Robertson, looks to be settling into a good combination but worrying for the selectors is the lack of tries - only one in the opening three games.

In the two games against Northwich the 2nds came out victors by 17pts to 10, with the 3rds overwhelming Northwich 3rds by 50-8 with the 4ths going down at Sandbach by 15-5. The Vets at Trentham lost 20-10.

Next Saturday the 1st team takes up league duties playing Newton-le-Willows with the 2nds, 4ths and Vets at home.

Converted for the new archive on 13 March 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.