A Winning start to the New Year

Bolton travelled the short distance to De La Salle on Saturday and after a hard-fought battle came out the winners for their first game of the New Year.
Bolton started the better of the two teams and had a lot of possession and kept the ball well. When De La Salle got the ball Bolton were very quick to defend; denying them any room. After fifteen minutes Bolton were awarded a penalty just outside De La Salle’s twenty-two metre line, which Louis Lockett converted to give Bolton an early lead. Eight minutes later Louis Lockett converted another penalty. After the restart De La Salle attacked down the blind side and scored a relatively easy try, due to missed tackles by Bolton. Bolton shook off this mishap and again exerted pressure in De La Salle’s half so in the thirty-fourth minute were awarded another penalty for a trip on Rhys Pritchard. Lockett converted the penalty. De La Salle were not done yet and they again attacked the blindside with some good off-loads and scored a very good try in the thirty-eighth minute.
Halftime score De La Salle 10 Bolton 9
Bolton started the second half very well and were putting De La Salle under pressure with strong ball carrying from the forwards. Off one these rucks, in the forty-eighth minute, the ball went down the blindside to Josh Holmes. He was about twenty-five metres out and with three players to beat he managed to sidestep and wriggle his way through before being tackled just short of the line. He managed to reach forward and touch the ball down on the line for a well earned try. The game really came alive with both teams trying very hard and defences were tight and there was no quarter given. De La Salle attacked relentlessly trying to get over the line, but Bolton’s defence was excellent and stood very firm. The referee sin-binned a De La Salle forward but Bolton were not able to take advantage of this. In the seventy-third minute De La Salle were awarded a penalty which they converted. The last seven minutes were nail-biting with both sides battling hard for the win. In the eighty-fourth minute the referee blew full time and it was a great win for Bolton!
Bolton had not played for about a month due to their game being postponed against Aspatria and were a bit rusty to start with. All the team played with great spirit and teamwork. Ben Cottam was Man of the Match for Bolton and Chris Brownlow made his first appearance for the first team. All in all, a very pleasing day’s work by everyone.