Silloth 12 - 39 Bolton

Neither big nor daft enough to play tight five, but not good-looking enough or possessing too few hair products to play in the backs, back rowers play in the nooks and crannies between the piano shifters and the piano players. Bolton RUFC are fortunate in having amongst the largest number of playing members for a club at this level and, therefore, more flankers than the average team in the North Lancs/Cumbria league in which they operate. It certainly seemed to the travelling members of Compost Corner (regular readers – OK, reader – will remember that these are the long-retired former players and founders of the club who still give great support to the current teams) that the majority of players getting onto the bus on Saturday for the trip to Silloth seemed to be flankers, and there were sighs of relief from the old 'uns when a couple of young people they didn't recognize and a couple of players they knew to be backs turned up. On the bus half a dozen of the senior members sidled up the the coach and asked him what the plan was; the coach merely smiled his sphinx-like smile and looked out of the window to hide the panic in his eyes. Everyone was assured that it was all part of the plan and everything would work out right. And so it did.

It was Bolton's first ever trip to Silloth and they arrived early to find the pitch in excellent condition and the wind a lot less strong than it had been coming over Shap. The key to the game from Bolton's point of view was a quick start and that is exactly what happened. The visitors kicked off, forced a couple of errors and won a line out close to the the Silloth line. As most of the team were forwards natural instincts took over and a 13 man effort at the maul propelled skipper Chris Cockton over with only a couple of minutes on the clock. The home team looked shaken to be put under pressure so early and this continued from the restart; Bolton were keeping the ball in hand amongst the forwards and making good yards around the breakdown. Carries by Chris Mee, man of the match Louis Critchlow and Matt Parrish took the ball close to the Silloth line. Quick hands from Harry Stocks created space for Mason Lockley to crash over. Both Harry and Mason are still colts and were making their first team debut starts for the club and the fact that they are the sixth and seventh colts to have played for the first in the past year can only be good news for the future of Bolton. Mason carried strongly and defended well all game and Harry moved the ball quickly from scrum half and found little gaps behind the dominant Bolton pack throughout. In previous games Bolton have taken their foot off the gas after a couple of early scores, but there seemed to be a much more businesslike and determined approach to this game. Having much the better of the scrums and lineouts the visitors forced their way once more into the Silloth 22 where a break from Mike Mills was stopped a metre short of the home tryline. Quick ruck ball and surprisingly deft hands from Cockton saw Manny Tailor crash over from 20 metres (his version) or 5 metres (everybody else watching's version). Mills converted the second and third tries and a kick from hand by him shortly afterwards had Bolton once again near the Silloth line. With the home team expecting another catch and drive Bolton surprised everybody, especially the coach, by taking the ball off the top and moving the ball quickly into midfield where slick handling saw Matt Parrish crash under the posts for the try of the match. This secured the try bonus for Bolton after 25 minutes sealed a remarkable start to the game for the visitors. To Silloth's credit their heads never went down and they came much more into the game after this. Having no joy attacking close to the breakdown in the face of Bolton's resolute defence in that area, they moved the ball wider and finally broke through when the winger outpaced the defence to score wide on the right. An excellent conversion took the score to 7-26 at the break.

With Silloth coming back into the match it was clear that the start of the second half would be key: another score by the home team would have them feeling they were right back in it, but a Bolton score would keep the alarms at bay. Happily for the visitors the latter scenario played out. Bolton kept the ball well frustrating Silloth into penalties at the breakdown and Mike Mills kept the ball in the opposition half with a fine kicking display from hand. From one of these positions a kickable penalty was awarded and Mills duly added another 3 points to the visitors' tally. Once again Silloth came back and got behind the Bolton defence to score another fine try wide on the right, but Bolton settled the matter once and for all with another Mills penalty and a deserved try for Louis Critchlow when he wrestled the ball over the line from close range following a concerted period of pressure.
The visitors threatened further – Stocks was tripped near the line and wingers Kieran Shacklock and Jack Robinson, who both looked sharp throughout, should have combined for a try with only the fullback to beat – but they closed the game out without further alarm to seal a convincing and impressive win.

Given the personnel available this was as good a performance and result as Bolton have produced in the past few seasons. Joss Gregory, James Howarth, James Higgins and Rick Sandbrook plugged gaps seamlessly and Mark Chappelhow was as industrious as ever. With injured players returning to training it was important that this potential banana skin of a fixture was safely negotiated, and the manner in which it was done was extremely encouraging for the sizeable travelling contingent.

Many thanks must go to Silloth for their excellent hospitality. It may have been Bolton's first visit to the far north west, but they will look forward to going back again.

MoM: Louis Critchlow