Although slightly short of players due to injuries, Bolton were focussed and determined. I quick early converted try by Northwich had the lads slightly on the back foot, but they regrouped and some great passing between David Price, Jamie Currie and Jonny Wallis saw Bolton progress back down the field. Matthew Chowdhury then produced a great run, before passing the ball to Jamie Currie and Jonny Wallis again. Northwich gave away a penalty and David Price flicked the ball to Nathan Collins who charged over the line for a great try – and his first for Bolton. David Price converted it leaving the score at 7-7.

The kick off saw Sam Smith catch the ball and pass it to Will French who made a great run before passing the ball to David Price who made a great kick that Jonny Wallis chased down, putting huge pressure on Northwich and forcing an error. Bolton kept driving forward, with Tom Evans passing the ball to Callum Naylor and Morgan Smith who both kept pushing back the opposition. Northwich then stole the ball and kicked down the field, but George Lilleywhite and Sam Smith were incredibly solid throughout the game, and George caught the ball before passing to Sam who was just held up at the try line. Bolton came back with strength, enabling Nathan Collins to charge over for his second try and the score was 12-7.

A yellow card for Northwich left the teams with even numbers for the first time in the match, and some great passing between Jamie Currie and Jonny Wallis kept the pressure on Northwich before Harvey Banks kicked down field, chasing the ball and eventually scoring the try. At half time the score was 17-7.

The second half saw some scrappy play for the first ten minutes, before Jonny Wallis kicked down field putting Northwich back under pressure. Both sides gave away too many penalties, but eventually Matthew Chowdhury and Tom Evans got the ball to Harvey Banks who scored his second try of the game, well converted by David Price leaving the score at 24-7.

Unfortunately, Northwich came back hard, and the next 10 minutes saw them score twice, and the score was soon 24-19. Then in the last play of the game they scored – and converted – to make the final score a disappointing 24-26.

U17's Kendal 10 v 36 Bolton

Bolton made the long journey to the Lake District to take on Kendal. Kendal have had a poor run recently with results but were determined to right the wrong against Bolton. They were fired up for this game.

Bolton started the stronger of the two teams as they had most of the possession but couldn't turn it into points. Eventually in form Alex Greenhalgh scored for the away team which was converted by Ben Turner.

Turner was on hand several minutes later to slot a penalty over. Kendal never gave up and were excellent at turning the ball over at the ruck. Turner was replaced by new player Anthony Hart who slotted into the team with ease. His kicking was phenomenal. Tries by Kier Kernick and another by Alex Greenhalgh started to widen the gap between the teams. Kendal hit back however in the second half with two unconverted tries. Tries by Morgan Skeels-Caldwell and Tom Crook converted by Anthony Hart put the game beyond doubt.

Player of the match went to Matt Moore. Most contribution award went to Kier Kernick with James Evans picking up the tackling award.

U16s come up short in the Stockport sunshine.

The clash with Heaton Moor was a game of two halves with the Bolton pack too good for Heaton in the first half. Heaton Moor got early points on the board but the Cherry and whites were in no mood to fall further behind.

Bulldozing tries from both second row's Darren Robinson and Joe McHugh plus another forceful try from Prop Alex Tonge were all converted by Jos Winstanley to give the Bolton side a well-deserved lead at half time of 21-12.

From the restart, the Heaton plan changed and they moved the ball away from the forwards and played through their pacy wingers and full back. The Cherry and Whites battled bravely with Nat May holding up the Heaton winger over the line to deny a try. But the result was inevitable as the Bolton forwards tired and Heaton took advantage.

Final score Heaton moor 32 - Bolton 21

Bolton u13's v Heaton Moor

Bolton u13's maintained their 100% record with their fourth consecutive win of the season against an impressive Heaton Moor side full of passing flair.

On five minutes, Sam Atherton had the ball over the try line but play had already stopped for an earlier high tackle and it was the visitors who sped to an early lead with two tries in the first quarter of an hour, both coming from their superior play out to the wings from the breakdown. At this stage, Bolton were struggling to find a foothold in the game and top scorer Leon Hodson helped to rally them with a try after a long mazy run on seventeen minutes. Heaton Moor restored their advantage before Oliver Keogh pulled it back to 2-3 at half time.

Heaton Moor had the better of the first half and their quick hands and speed had been a problem. This continued as visitors went 2-4 up early after play resumed. The Bolton forwards needed to up their game and started to dominate thereafter in the scrum and with some good movement in the maul and Connor Winteringham and Blake Griffiths were in the thick of it with Levi Waite organising the pack well. This allowed the backs the space to move and ask questions of the Heaton Moor defensive line. Atherton led the way with a try on 30 minutes, and Bolton levelled shortly thereafter through Hodson with a long run through the Heaton defence. Immediately from the kick off, the visitors got the ball into Bolton territory and smartly dived on a loose ball over the try line to go 4-5 up.

This again spurred Bolton on and fifteen minutes from time, Hodson completed his fourth hat trick in as many games to bring the score level. The game at this point could have gone either way, but the reliable Keogh grabbed the winning try with five minutes to go and Bolton held out for a gritty win against polished opposition.

Final score Bolton 6 tries, Heaton Moor 5.

Bolton U12 vs Tyldesley/Aston-on-Mersey

The u12s went to a sunny Tyldesley today and after last week's chastening defeat to Sefton they were hoping to put in a much improved performance.

The first match was against Tyldesley and Bolton were straight away much more competitive than last week. They competed better at the ruck but handling errors led to a number of scrums against them in the early stages. Most of these were won back luckily and Bolton could go again. From one of these Bolton broke through the Tyldesley line with Euan James crashing through to open the scoring.

Unfortunately that was the high point of the match and Tyldesley slowly gained control winning much turnover ball. It was from a scrum that Bolton had up until then dominated that Tyldesley scored their first try, with quick passing and movement that caught Bolton a bit flat footed.

This was then the pattern for the rest of the half with Tyldesley crossing twice more. In the second half the boys tired and Tyldesley increasingly took control of the game. Starved of the ball Bolton were unable to create any more chances.

Final score Tyldesley 5 tries Bolton 1

After a quick turn around Bolton played Ashton on Mersey. In the first half Ashton scored 3 unanswered tries due to a regular flow of turnovers from rucks and missed tackles from Bolton. And then came the great revival. Bolton were unrecognisable in the second half. They competed strongly in rucks and mauls and found a more fluent passing game which led to their first try.

A few quick rucks led to the ball being quickly fed down a swiftly moving back line with Joe Jackson finishing with a strong run at the end. Ashton could hardly get a touch of the ball and the pressure told with Joe Jackson again powering his way through the Ashton defence after picking the ball up at a scrum to finish well. At this stage the comeback was on, only for time to be called and Ashton duly they duly booted the ball out.

Final score Ashton 3 tries, Bolton 2.

The u12s are very much a new outfit this season with a large influx of new players to the game. I thought they all equipped themselves fantastically with special mention to Tom Padmore for some brave tackles and Jack Vickers for some strong carries. Despite our losses this season, I am heartened by the strong performance in the second half against Ashton and hope to be reporting on successes soon.

U9s Away at Tyldesley.

U9s travelled to Tyldesley for what on paper should have been more of a test than last weekend given that our opponents already had three good wins under their belt. However Bolton were once again on the front foot with a great defensive effort with turn over ball coming time and time again and tries coming with the resulting possession.

Bolton scored 9 unanswered tries before a momentary lapse in the defensive line allowed the home team over the line. A half time score of 12-1 meant that the coaches asked the Bolton team to throw the ball about more in the second half and try to be more adventurous.

Quicker play of the ball from scrum half and some good running off the ball led to some great second half tries. Lots of rotation to ensure all players got a good run out led to a couple of gaps appearing in the defence but a final score of 24-5 to the visitors certainly gives a great confidence booster for the upcoming visit of Marple next week.