Rugby: Eagle's wings are clipped by Pendle (From Lancashire Telegraph)

Rugby: Eagle's wings are clipped by Pendle

5:58pm Tuesday 23rd October 2012 in Sport

Pendle Phoenix got back to winning ways as they ran in five tries to clip Eagle’s wings.

Phoenix had a full squad to select from including new signing Andy Dutton who marked his debut with the final try of the game.

Pendle were hoping for a good start to the game and they were not disappointed.

Straight from the kick off, they showed they were up for the game and big tackles from Jay Ashger, Daniel Edmondson and James Finucane set the tone of the match.

And the opening try soon followed when Sonny Waddington scored followed a fine offload from Rob Lawless and quick-thinking from Tarquinn Hempstead who had started the move.

Lawless then added the extras to make it 7-0 only for Eagle to reply immediately with a penalty.

But from the resulting restart, Pendle gathered, kicked deep, stole possession which eventually led to a try for Benjamin Peverley after a strong run from Stu Riley.

In a first half of free-flowing rugby, Eagle came straight back at their hosts scored the first of their two tries to cut the deficit to 12-8.

The see-saw match continued and this time it was Pendle’s turn to add to the score. A cross field kick was collected by Daniel Edmondson who found Redford and his kick through caused panic in the Eagle defence – a resulting clearance going to captain James Finucane who side-stepped his way through to score.

Pendle scored a fourth try before the break when Luke McNamee broke from the back of the scrum, drew two players and offloaded to Daniel Rowland who showed great pace to sprint to the try line – Redford converted and the lead was 24-8.

A penalty from Eagle cut the lead to 24-11 to end a pulsating first half.

The first score of the second half was always going to be crucial.

And it was Pendle who got it. Neither side could recreate the finishing touches that had been evident in the first half until Pendle finally made the breakthrough – Dutton on hand to dab down after good approach work from Rowland and Nick Martin who was stopped just short of the line. Redford added the extras and Pendle extended their lead to 31-13.

The final ten minutes was spent in the Pendle half with Eagle chasing the game.

And from a five metre scrum a big drive from the Eagle pack resulted in the referee awarding a penalty try.

The Eagle kicker was successful with his kick but it was Pendle who were triumphant.

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