Bolton U13s vs Vale of Lune

Bolton 6 : 19 Vale of Lune

Bolton U13s winning start to the season came to an abrupt end today. Having been let down early in the week by Tarleton who didn't have enough players, Vale of Lune came down to the Bolton with a huge squad of 22 players. Bolton were missing 6 but still mustered up 15 player but it was always going to be hard. Vale had always had a good squad and we have never beaten them.

Today it was warm and sunny, the pitch was soft in places and the rabbits had not caused too much damage. The plan was to play four quarters to allow Vale to rotate their players. From the kick off Vale put Bolton under pressure with 2 early tries but Oliver Keogh broke free for an individual break and scored. This encouraged the team to increase their work rate but some missed tackles and some slick passing allowed 2 more tries. It turned out his was Vales strongest 13.
The 2nd quarter saw some major changes for Vale and Bolton took advantage of some less organised defences and Leon was able to take advantage by breaking though tackles, finding the space and running in 3 tries. It felt like we were working together stringing passes, putting in tackles and clearing rucks. Vale pulled one back before Leon going over for his fourth of the quarter before Vale's last minute try before half time. Half time Bolton 5: Vale 6 looking quite respectable.

That last quarter obviously upset Vale and back on came the big guns who had been resting for 15 min. Vale have some very good individual players who Bolton failed to contain. We were slow to clear out rucks and our scrum wasn't firing on all pistons so we lost a lot of ball. On the break and from set pieces Vale were the better team with Bolton tiring and falling off tackles Vale were able to run in 6 unanswered tries. In the final quarter with Bolton feeling under the cosh and carrying a few injuries now, they struggled on, never giving up. Fitness training during the early season was effective and although we lost the last quarter 5 tries to 1 (Leon for his 5th) we were more competitive than the score suggested.

Over all a bit of a battering to our egos, but the sun was out and the pies were great. There's always next year.

Players:
Leon
Blake
Shane
Luke
Oskar
George
Oliver K
Conner Winteringham
Connor Whittle
Levi
Jamie
Ben
Ed
Sam Mc
Tyler