u15s defeated by Classy Preston side

The u15s travelled to Preston Grasshoppers for their first away trip of the year to one of the strongholds of Lancashire rugby with a depleted squad but keen to build on the momentum built up over the last few weeks. Preston however had other ideas and from the first phase of play, a spilled Bolton pass was pounced on by the big left wing who sprinted clear for the opening score, quickly followed by the second. Bolton were struggling to contain the large forwards and the pace of the backs but were determined to make a game of it and strong defending kept the Hoppers at bay. Despite the obvious size advantage for the home team, the Bolton scrum was getting on top with Max Hodson in particular, playing as an emergency hooker, giving the Hoppers something to think about. Harry Moxham and Jack Phillips were covering every blade of grass and along with Kynan Smith tackling everything that moved but the pressure told as another Preston try was scored. Bolton were now starting to get some possession and from a quality line out on the half way, Sam Howie sent a long pass out to his half back partner Robert Harris who fed Lewis Warburton who perfectly timed his pass to Josh Parry the full back cutting a great line through the Preston centres in a move straight from the training pitch. With the Preston defence splintered, Parry rounded the full back for a fantastic score converted by Howie. Unfortunately for the Cherry and whites, this stung Preston back into action and a further try was scored. For the remainder of the half, Bolton competed well, attacking with real intent, Tom Didlock and Shingi Chirimuta causing Preston all sorts of problems but just couldn’t find another score. One further try on the stroke of half time gave Preston a half time lead of;
Preston 33 Bolton 7
The second half started as per the first with a quick score for the hosts but from the kick off, a knock on gave Bolton a scrum in good field position. Number 8 and captain Marcus Crompton picked from the base and beat two defenders before feeding scrum half Howie who delayed his pass perfectly for Josh Parry to once again cut through the defence for his and Bolton’s second try converted by Howie. Bolton continued to press but the longer the game went on the more difficult it became for the small Bolton squad to deal with the inevitable knocks and injuries in such a hard physical game and Preston were able to run in a further 4 scores. This was a tremendous performance by the Bolton lads, who gave absolutely everything, and showed a huge amount of character, beaten by without a doubt a better team but nowhere near as one sided as the final scoreline would suggest.