Bolton 35-14 Oldham

who had had a good start to the season after last year’s promotion campaign.

In good conditions with the backdrop of a marquee the size of a zeppelin hangar housing several hundred revellers at the Bolton beer festival, Bolton kicked off with the breeze at their backs. The early exchanges took place in midfield with the Oldham pack running at close quarters and showing good ability at retaining the ball, but lacking the penetration needed to pierce the strong Bolton defence bolstered by the return from injury of Louis Townsend to the flank. When Bolton did wrestle possession in the early stages handling and kicking errors meant that they could not bring any continuity to their game, but on the couple of occasions they were able to string a couple of rucks together and then move the ball wide enough ground was made to indicate that this might be the way forward.

And so it proved. It can only be a coincidence that it took a yellow card after 20 minutes for Bolton’s no. 8 Niall Murphy for Bolton to finally speed up the play; some good and quick work at the breakdown saw the ball moved quickly to the right wing where Jack Robinson ran in unopposed from 30 metres for the first try, converted by Mike Mills. Immediately from the restart Bolton were back on the front foot after strong running by Chris Mee and Louis Critchlow. Quick ball was moved left this time to the left where skipper Chris Cockton popped up, broke through a tackle, ignored support all around him and rounded the fullback to touch down under the posts. The stunned silence was broken only by the band playing in the beer tent.
Mike Mills again converted and added two more penalties before half time as Bolton pressure grew and Oldham found it difficult to clear their lines.

So 20-0 to Bolton at the break and that should have been the platform for the home side to kick on in the second half, but Oldham started the stronger and after a period of pressure near the Bolton line they were awarded a penalty try when a rolling maul went to ground 5 metres out. After this the game settled back into its pattern with Oldham retaining the ball for periods without making inroads into the Bolton defence and Bolton looking to speed the game up and make progress down the flanks. One of these incursions by Bolton led to a period of pressure on the Oldham line. Repeated drives were repelled, but when the ball was eventually moved into the midfield Mike Mills wriggled through a gap to cross by the posts. At 27-7 the home team again let Oldham back onto the front foot and they soon drove over from a 5 metre lineout. Conscious that another score would get them back into the game or at least gain them a bonus point Oldham ran hard and looked for field position, but Bolton regrouped and exerted more pressure in the Oldham 22. More good distribution from the halfbacks James Singleton and Andy Crimmins took the ball round the Oldham defence allowing Mike Mills to score again in the corner for the bonus point try.
This finally seemed to deflate the away team and there was time for more Bolton pressure and a final Mills penalty to take his tally to 25 for the game.

This was an important win with key players still missing from the team and there was encouragement from the way the young team went about taking on an Oldham team who were very competitive and difficult to play against. The signs are that Bolton are getting back on track after a couple of bumps in the road and, unlike the northern hemisphere teams in the world cup, are looking to go deep into this competition.

MoM – Mike Mills