Bolton u15 - 17 Rochdale u15 - 15

After a couple of tough games the U15s were looking to bounce back to winning ways with a visit by Rochdale. A sunny Sunday morning brought ideal rugby conditions to play in and even with 6 players injured Bolton were able to field 22 players.

Rochdale arrived with only 12 players so 3 home players volunteered to play for the visiting side, special mentions go to Nat May, Dan Nadin and Jack Patterson for playing for Rochdale.

Starting brightly Bolton were looking to put early pressure on the visitors and after some good half breaks Alex Tonge went over the line, but great tackling from Rochdale meant he was unable to ground the ball though and Bolton went back for the scrum. This was an area that Rochdale had a lot of ball from scrums due to the heavyweight front 3 and throughout the game Bolton had difficulty in the scrum.
Rochdale took the lead first with a try before Bolton struck back with Joe Brooks grabbing the first of his hat trick of tries on the day.

In the second half Bolton tried to step up the pressure but lack of matches and training told in some scrappy play and turnover ball but Bolton kept going and eventually the gears clicked into place and the tries came. Joe Brooks devastating pace and a Jos Winstanley conversion gave Bolton a 17-10 lead. Rochdale grabbed another late try to bring the game to a close 17-15 with Bolton holding on for the win.