Steamers are rising

10:19am Thursday 19th June 2008

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CREWE and Nantwich Steamers are on the up after making it three wins on the bounce.

The fledgling Rugby League club have really turned their season around, rising to a fine eighth in the Merit League.

And progress was once again evident as they drilled Humber Rabbitohs 47-28 at the Legends, last Saturday.

Head coach Mark Roughsledge has seen enough to convince him that the Steamers could make a surprise push for the play-offs.

“The side is almost unrecognisable to the one which took to the field in the season opener, not in terms of personnel but in the way we are playing,” he said.

“To score over 100 points in our last two games and turn over a side like South Humber proves that we can be serious contenders for the play-offs.

“On the flip side we no longer have the surprise factor as other teams will look at our current form and expect a tough encounter.”

That’s what Humber got despite a gift of a start.

A loose ball bobbled amongst the Crewe lads which let the visitors score within twenty seconds of kick-off.

However Steamers hit back with a determined defence that forced the Rabbitohs into costly errors.

Jamie Moore benefited from a neat dummy to scored the first points of the day with Reece Burley adding the extras.

Humber threatened to make life really difficult, exposing more gaps to register two more tries but the hosts turned it all around as James Eardly, Sam Germain and Moore all went over for a 24-18 lead at half-time.

The fresh legs of Adrian Lamb, Karl Morgan, Tom Baldwin, Tom Smart and Simon Burley helped turn a close encounter into a convincing win.

Eardly notched his ninth try of the season while Stefan Davis raced over 50 yards for one of his own to put Crewe in the driving seat.

Humber kept coming back but the hosts rubberstamped their win in the final 10 minutes with RIchard Smith and Burley piling on more points, the later suffering a dislocated shoulder in injury time.

He’ll miss the rest of a promising season.

Steamers travel to meet the Telford Raiders this Sunday.