On behalf of everyone who supports or has an association with Oldham RLFC, and who might not have had the opportunity to do so personally, might I offer heartiest congrats to Cian Tyrer for scoring SIX tries in our huge and thoroughly enjoyable 62-0 win at Hunslet.
It wasn’t a club record. not even a post-war club record, but it’s not every day a player bags six tries and it will certainly live in Cian’s memory bank for as long as he is lacing up his boots and pulling a rugby jersey over his head.
It was typical of a Tyrer – and we know a few – to heap the praise on his team mates in general and on his centre, club captain Jordan Turner, in particular, but the fact remains that Cian scored six thanks to excellent finishing, super footwork, speed and the ability to spot in a flash how to get to the line through a crowded defence, writes ROGER HALSTEAD.
He scored his first four tries in the first half (we led 24-0 at the break) and then added the first two at the start of the second-half, making six consecutive scores – unbelievable.
PLT, on his Oldham debut, only scored one, but he was exciting in possession too and every time he got his hands on the ball the sense of anticipation spoke volumes for the buzz Roughyeds fans experienced whenever he was involved in the action.
In short, he looked a class act – the sort of player who springs to mind when Sean Long, Brendan Sheridan and Co, backed up by Mike Ford and the management team, continually preach the gospel that: “We know we have players all over the park who can score tries. Our main task is to defend. Get that right and we’ll have no problem scoring points.”
To that end one of the most pleasing things about this 62-0 win — our biggest-ever win margin at Hunslet — was to ’nil’ the lads from South Leeds.
The facts speak for themselves: We are top of the table because we have the BEST attacking figures, 164 at an average of 54.64 per game; the BEST defensive figures only 16 points conceded in three games at an average of 5.2; and the BEST points difference, 148 or equal to 49 a game.
”We’ve waited a long time for this — and now we have to support it,"
said Mike Turner. who does a terrific job as main man at our Heritage Trust, but who would be just as happy to be described as a Roughyeds fan all his life.
Mike and his wife Mary were in London on Saturday night, On Sunday morning they caught a fast train to Leeds and by kick-off they were in the Hunslet ground, so determined were they not to miss an Oldham game. Mike even wore his trademark match hat. I’ll be looking out for it again when Cornwall come to Boundary Park on Sunday (1pm kick off don’t forget). No prizes for guessing the odds on M and M being there!
Mike Ford, incidentally, was full of praise for the fans, who turned up in force at Hunslet, proudly wearing their colours and giving 11-try Roughyeds absolutely brilliant
vocal support.
”It was the best backing since I’ve been back at the club," said he. “It was like a home game. I don’t know what Hunslet thought of that. On behalf of the club I want to thank every supporter who went and who made such a noise with Oldham songs etc. I know it’s been said many times before, but nobody appreciates support like that more than the players.”
The Chapelhow boys nodded their approval and Ted said:
”We couldn’t believe how our fans maintained their chants, seemingly without a break. It wouldn’t surpriser m if we had more supporters there than them."
But back to Cian. He’s now on contract at Oldham to the end of this season after first coming to the club as a free agent and asking for a trial. Sean Long was impressed with him and ultimately put him on contract.
He’s 22, a Leyther, grandson of Colin, like Keiran, his club mate here and his cousin. Cian’s Mum is sister of Sean Tyrer (Colin’s son). Sean also played here, on the wing, a few years ago.
Colin might be best remembered for taking what seemed like ages in his goal-kicking run-up, but didn’t he also cause quite a stir when he cracked fellow-Leyther Martin Murphy on the nose at a play-the-ball on the very first of Murph’s 400-and-odd games for Oldham?
He certainly did — and he started something off the field in Leigh too judging by the number of young Tyrers who have since followed him into this sport we love and cherish.
