Ramsey got their inaugural campaign in South Lancs/Cheshire Division Four off to a great start with victory over Linley, North Staffordshire on Saturday The game, played on Linley's heavy Bathgate Park pitch, was an enthralling encounter.

The host side's game plan from the outset revolved around their heavy and experienced pack of forwards. But Ramsey's younger, lighter and more mobile eight coped manfully at the scrummage.

They did, however, fail to come to terms with the referee's interpretation of the ruck laws, giving away a series of penalties in the first 10 minutes.

Luckily for Ramsey, these indiscretions took place in the Linley half. Ramsey exerted control at the resulting lineouts and starved their opponents of any quality possesion.

After 20 minutes, outside centre Nick McCudden found a little space on the right flank. After some great interpassing from the Ramsey backs, and with the try line beckoning, right wing Adam Yates failed to take a difficult pass and knocked-on 10 metres out.

Ramsey, heartened by this, started to put some width and confidence into their game. Several promising moves narrowly failed to break the Linley defensive line and one such move led to a Ramsey penalty 15 metres out. Ramsey's scrum half Shaun Wyllie kicked into the corner and from the resulting lineout openside Will Keenan again went close to crossing the line.

Still looking for the first score of the game, Ramsey's young fly half Fintan Cummins started to mix things up a bit with some deft little grubber kicks and chips into the Linley 22.

One such kick led to a Linley ruck 10 metres out. Ramsey's forwards turned the ball over and Wyllie dummied and darted over the line for the opening score of the game after 30 minutes. He converted his own try for a 0-7 lead.

Shortly after the restart some promising work from Linley's backs led to a misplaced pass. The grateful recipient was Ramsey's blindside Louis Higgins, who intelligently fed McCudden and after a great counter-attack from halfway — involving most of the Ramsey backs — Yates dummied and fed Cummins who strolled over for a fine score with half-time approaching. Wyllie again converted to make the half-time score 0-14.

Ramsey's forwards failed to gather Linley's second-half kick-off, giving Linley some easily gained possession. Another mistake led to a Linley penalty on Ramsey's five metre line and a quick tap from the home side's impressive scrum half caught Ramsey napping. He wriggled over to score with 10 minutes of the second half gone, narrowly failing to convert his own score.

Ramsey started to look tense and more errors, mainly in the middle third of the pitch, started to occur. Halfway through the second half both team's coaches started to ring the changes from the subs bench.

Ramsey's second row Stephen Brew was led from the field looking groggy after a knock to his head. After a reshuffle involving Higgins moving to the second row and Lance Wyllie entering the fray on the flank, Ramsey — galvanised by some great hits from the younger Wyllie brother — started to exert some pressure on the Linley line.

Captain Tynan Pritchard stopped a Linley breakout with some great work. He fly-hacked forward to the opposition's 22 to give his team some more vital terratorial advantage. With 15 minutes remaining Dave Harding, the cornerstone of the Ramsey pack, made way for the younger and slightly more mobile Davide Mazzone. Danny Turner also replaced the impressive McCudden.

Ramsey's young half backs started to probe the Linley half with some intelligent kicking, belying their years. Several Linley penalties littered the remaining minutes but with Ramsey's domminance at the lineout and in the tackle area the game was seen out for a well-earned away victory on a memorable day for the club.

The only dark cloud on a bright day was a nasty knee injury to Shaun Wyllie on the final whistle. Everyone at the club wishes him a speedy recovery.