Bolton welcomed newly promoted Trafford MV to the Theatre of Trees on Saturday after the teams last met back in 2013 in what was North Lancashire Division One. Trafford have always been a well drilled, strong team and in the past, have had the upper hand against Bolton.

Dave Crouch named virtually the same starting 15 from the previous week with Nick Duncan being the only change in the front row and Ian Fox starting on the bench and in Dave Crouch’s absence, Gareth Stocks took control from the side lines.

The match began with Bolton’s kick off away from the clubhouse and into the light drizzle. Ten minutes in, Bolton were dealt a hammer blow with number 8 Gareth Pritchard twisting awkwardly on his ankle and having to come off. Tom Swift had only just zipped his sub suit up before he was called from off the bench.

Trafford’s defensive line stood firm and after a second penalty at scrum time 15 metres out, Bolton opted for the 3 points. Mike Mills had suffered a leg strain in the warm up therefore it was down to Mark Doherty to take over kicking duties for the day, knocking the first of his 5 successful penalties over the upright.

Bolton spent the best part of the next half hour camped down in Trafford’s half and with each penalty the referee spotted, Mark Doherty notched up another 3 points. With another coming from a scrummage infringement which held strong all day, Nick Duncan laying down a marker for a starting spot in the front row. A further penalty from a lineout gave Doherty another kick for goal from out wide. The final penalty of the half came from a great kick chase putting Trafford under pressure at the back with two of their players eventually going in straight off their feet and conceding the penalty - this time on the left-hand side. It didn’t seem to matter with Doherty finding his range early he made easy work of this one.

Half time Score 12-0.

The second half started in the same fashion with a penalty being awarded to Bolton 5 minutes in and Doherty putting it over the sticks to take the score to 15-0. Trafford began to kick the ball to turn Bolton around. However, Full back Jonny Stansfield and his wingers Sam Fogg and Danny Joseph were up to the challenge returning each kick with intent. It was a shame they could not finish off a few opportunities with the final passes not going to hand.

On the hour mark Bolton had a scrum 30 metres out and to the right. Mark Doherty scooped from the base and went down the blindside managing to evade the attention of would be tacklers and scoot underneath the posts and dot down for the first try of the afternoon and give himself an easy conversion, taking the score to 22-0.

Gareth Stocks made two changes in quick succession with Ian Fox coming on for Gareth Evans in the front row and Marcus O’Donohoe taking Jonny Stansfield’s place. Bolton’s second try came down the left side of the pitch from a scrum Mike Mills received a flat pass from Doherty which he took straight up the middle managing to free his hands to give the offload back to Doherty who had looped around. Doherty passed left to centre Rhys Pritchard who had support on his outside from O’Donohoe and Tom Swift. Quick hands saw Swift receive the ball and with a right hand fend and a flop over the line he scored his first try for the 1st XV in the corner. Doherty unsuccessful with the conversion attempt.

Final Score 27-0 to Bolton. Trafford proving to be a difficult team to break down for the cherry and whites but the result is one Bolton will be please with. Solid performances as ever from Gareth Evans and Ashley Cooper but Man of the Match went to Mark Doherty, with a personal haul of 22 points.

Our thanks to Newton Vehicle Services for kindly sponsoring the Match Ball for this fixture and to all our sponsors who came along to support the club. If you are interested in sponsoring a game or the club, then please contact us here

Next week Bolton are on the road again at Fleetwood which is always a tight affair and Fleetwood have started the season very well, only losing their first game the weekend just passed.