Pride and Commitment, too many penalties.

Bolton 28 Anselmians 37

Bolton welcomed Anselmians to the The Avenue last Saturday. It was a very overcast day and the forecast was heavy rain but luckily the rain held off until the last few minutes of the game.

Anselmians started the game with high tempo and Bolton didn’t really get hold of the ball until about the twelfth minute. Anselmians’ great pressure, and Bolton’s poor defence, led them to two penalties and a score which they converted within eleven minutes. Bolton finally settled down and the tackling improved so they started to dominate the scrums. In the sixteenth minute, Louis Critchlow charged at the Anselmian defence and broke through well into the oppositions twenty-two. A quick ruck and a lovely inside ball saw Captain Niall Murphy crash over for a try, Rhys Pritchard added the conversion. Anselmians replied with another try and a conversion in the twenty-third minute. From a ruck inside the Anselmians’ twenty-two, Bolton scored their second try of the afternoon. Jack Robinson finished off a good handling move after the forwards had provided a great ruck ball. Rhys Pritchard added the conversion. A minute before half time Bolton received a yellow card and in the final minute of the half, Anselmians kicked another penalty.

Half time score: Bolton 14 Anselmians 23

The second half had hardly started when the referee showed another yellow card to Bolton, reducing them to thirteen men (after the match the referee apologised for giving the yellow card and he said that no incident had happened). In the next ten minutes Bolton conceded two tries and conversions. When Bolton were restored to their full complement, then they started to dominate play, particularly in the scrums and were awarded penalties for their dominance. In the sixty-second minute Bolton had a five-metre scrum, they pushed the opposition back and James Singleton picked the ball up to make an easy score. Rhys Pritchard added the conversion. Bolton had to use two sub replacements due to injury. The second of these two was quite serious; Ryan McClusky banged heads with Louis Critchlow in a tackle and he broke his cheek bone in two places. Our ever-present physio team dealt with the injury very well. Anselmians made some good forays into Bolton’s half but effective defence from Bolton denied scoring opportunities for Anselmians. Bolton made some telling runs and were denied a score when Rhys Pritchard made a searing break through the defence and passed to Connor Orrell who was in support. He passed to Jack Robinson who unfortunately dropped the pass. In the last ten minutes, Bolton were camped in Anselmians’ twenty-two and finally Bolton finished off the match with another try when Louis Critchlow took a quick penalty and scored. Rhys Pritchard added the conversion.

Final score: Bolton 28 Anselmians 37

Bolton played with great commitment particularly after the first ten minutes. They dominated in the scrums and the defence also improved as the match progressed. All credit to the team; it was a very good team effort and to come away with a bonus point was very encouraging. Bolton still gave away too many penalties which let Anselmians back into the match.

Man of the Match: Louis Critchlow