Bolton U15s vs Fleetwood U15s

Bolton U15’s v Fleetwood U15’s
Junior Rugby Challenge Match 4
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Final Score Bolton 22 Fleetwood 14

Tries: Hodson x 2, Keogh, McDermott
Conversions: Glynn

Bolton U15’s maintained their 100 percent record in the Lancashire Junior challenge with a narrow win at Home to Fleetwood who came into the match sharing the top spot in the league with Bolton.

They don’t do things by half in Fleetwood, from their fishing fleet, to their lighthouse, the Blackpool tramway and of course the production of the world famous Fishermen’s Friend lozenge. Now to be added to that notable list is really , really big and strong 15 year old Rugby players.

The whole game was a physical , tight affair with defence being to the fore and huge tackles being out in by both sides.

Bolton opened the scoring on seven minutes when captain Ben Price ran on to his own kick before being stopped short of the try line. From the resulting ball broke loose and Harry McDermott was first to the punch and touched over near the left hand flag.

A period of solid Fleetwood pressure saw Bolton defending phase after phase with Mark Glynn putting in several try saving tackles and some resolute hard challenges were required by both the forwards and the backs to deny Fleetwood the opportunity to convert their possession into points.

Bolton bought themselves some breathing space on 23 minutes when try machine Leon Hodson received the ball from a solid Bolton scrum deep in his own half and evaded all defenders to score a great solo try to double Bolton’s lead.

The half time score did not reflect the possession that Fleetwood had enjoyed before the break and there was some justice in them scoring a well worked try within five minutes of the restart. A conversion brought the score to 10-7. Bolton responded well five minutes later when Price caught a high kicked ball which he then passed out to Hodson who found a way through the Fleetwood defence for his second try to put the home side 8 points clear.

The next 15 minutes saw a fine physical encounter between two determined sides with attacks on both sides being foiled by solid defensive play, and players beginning to tire and pick up injuries. Fleetwood set up a grandstand finish six minutes from time by scoring a converted try to bring them within a point of the Bolton total and the visitors sensed a win was within their grasp.

Bolton held on to their lead under immense pressure, and it was with great relief that with the last play of the game deep into injury time Oliver Keogh received the ball and ran it over for Bolton’s fourth try of the day. Glynn converted to give the scoreline a gloss that the game did not warrant.

The win leaves Bolton 3 points clear of Fleetwood at the top of the table with three rounds of the league stage still to go.

Final score Bolton 22 Fleetwood 14