Saturday 23 March 2019
Brook had to come from behind to snatch the points in a feisty high scoring encounter at the home of their old rivals Simms Cross.
The home side opened the scoring with a converted close range try following a repeat set. Brook hit back instantly as Simmies lost possession from the kick off. Skipper Craig Lyon burrowed his way over the line despite the attention of several defenders, Jordan Darwin added the extras.
Simms Cross restored their lead on 15 minutes when following another repeat set a neat offload close to the line engineered another converted try.
Simmies again lost possession from the restart Brook kept the ball alive from the resulting scrum and Jordan McManus fed his winger Bobby Williams who went over in the corner for an unconverted try.
Brooks forwards led by strong runs from Jack Wilson, Lewis Martin and Cammy Tunstall began to get on top in the second quarter of the game.
On the half hour mark Dan Parkes danced and jinked his way over for superb individual try and right on the half time whistle winger Ben Legge showed everyone a clean pair of heels as he raced 80 metres to score. Jordan Darwin added both conversions to give Brook a 22-12 interval lead.
The visitors increased their lead in the opening minute of the second period Jordan Darwin broke clear from half way to score his conversion increased the lead to 16 points and it looked game over.
Simmies big forwards restored their advantage and they hit back with three unanswered tries in 20 minutes. With the conversions being added they had retaken the lead at 30-28 with less than 10 minutes on the clock.
Despite being bullied by the bigger and more experienced Widnes outfit Brook never say die attitude along with sheer grit and determination got them back into the game.
With 5 minutes remaining Mike Wynn spotted a gap in the defence he raced away from inside his own half drew the full back and delivered a pass to the supporting Jordan Darwin who finished off under the posts his conversion gave Brook a 4-point advantage.
Simmies were not done and launched a final raid on Brooks try line. Following an attacking scrum the centre was stretching out to score before a crunching tackle from Jack Wilson forced him to lose control of the ball.
Despite hanging on to a narrow lead Brook moved the ball wide to Ben Legge from the resulting scrum he raced away to half way and chipped the ball forward for Lewis Gartland to collect and score the clincher Darwin converted to seal the 40-30 win.
Lewis Gartland whom was playing his first game of the season following an injury was selected as The Heatrek Man of the Match with Jordan Darwin taking the Tisdalls Players Man of the Match.
