Bolton 20 - 19 De La Salle

Bolton entertained local rivals De la Salle, one place below them in the league. The referee had travelled over from Yorkshire for the fixture and assumed correctly that the conditions were normal for Lancashire and so was happy for the game to proceed.

Although the game was never going to be a free-flowing classic both teams tried to keep the ball moving, although all too often ambition exceeded execution. From the start it was clear that Bolton had the upper hand in the scrum with Sam Hilton in his 300th game for the club particularly catching the eye. There are dozens of tight head props in the North West who have stood opposite Sam at the first scrum and fancied their chances against his boyish good looks and slight frame, only to find themselves shortly afterwards heading backwards in an uncomfortable position. So it proved again. After the initial skirmishes in midfield Bolton, playing into the wind and rain in the first half, broke upfield through Will Bate and from the resulting scrum Matthew Parrish, back in the first team after a 15 month injury layoff, crashed over for the first try which was converted by Mike Mills via an upright. For the next 20 minutes the game settled into a pattern whereby most of the play was in the Bolton half and errors doing the basics ensured that the home team were always under pressure. De la Salle kicked a couple of penalties to stay in the game and it was not until nearly half time before Bolton made it back upfield and forced a penalty which Mills again converted. There was just time for the visitors to force a penalty of their own to make the half time score 10-9.

Given that the home team had the wind in the second half and that their scrum was on top it should have been a straightforward task for them to keep the visitors pinned back and create opportunities through pressure. This looked likely to be the pattern for the rest of the game when Jack Robinson cut inside from the right wing to score under the posts and leave Mike Mills with a straightforward conversion, but a combination of De la Salle skill and determination coupled the Bolton’s inability to string more than a couple of bits of possession together meant that the game was still in the balance going into the final 10 minutes. The visitors first kicked a penalty to get back to 17-12 and then, with time almost up, went over from close range following a 5 metre scrum. The try was converted and Bolton trailed by a couple of points with time almost up. Having criticised the team a couple of weeks ago at Ashton it is only fair to give them praise for the character shown in the last couple minutes when, for the first time in the match, they put together some phases and drew a penalty for offside. Mike Mills, who had run strongly all match but who had put a couple of penalty attempts wide and hit the crossbar with a third, teed the ball up in the wind and the rain and put the ball over from 30 metres. There was just enough time for De la Salle to kick off and for the home team to scramble it in to touch before the final whistle.

A match against De la Salle presents a unique set of challenges – just ask Sam Hilton who has played in more than his fair share – and it is to Bolton’s credit that they ultimately came through in a match they could easily have lost. Although it is the first match this season where they have failed to pick up a bonus point the win has seen them go second in the league. Given the conditions on the day, this is all they could have hoped for.

MoM – Will Bate