Bolton 1st XV 3 – 19 St Edwards OB 1st XV

The cherry and whites stepped out onto the grass, still in search of their first victory and hoping they could string together a repeat of last years performance.

The game started in exactly the same fashion as last season with the Bolton forwards showing their mettle up front against the St Edwards front eight. Barracking runs from the front three of Chris Mee, Gareth (Taff) Evans and Sam Hilton causing the Edwards defence trouble. Constant pressure caused the visiting side to slow the ball down at the ruck illegally and returning fly-half Rhys Pritchard stepped up to slot the opening 3 points of the game.

From the restart Bolton retained possession and began the task of working back up towards the try-line, however poor technique in the tight saw Bolton loose possession and a quick attack combined with several missed tackles meant the Eddie’s blindside was galloping towards the line. A great covering tackle saw him felled but the visitors were able to recycle the ball quickly and following some slick handling across the backline scored in the corner.

Bolton’s dominance in the scrum showed and St Eddie’s only way of keeping hold of their own ball was to feed in at the second row and bank on the referee’s inability to pick up on this illegality. Despite the crooked put in Bolton still managed to turn over several set pieces throughout the game but were unable to convert the pressure into points.
The only other score of the half was an Eddie’s penalty for a very dubious offside decision taking the score to 3-8.

Second Half

Bolton knew that the score line and a victory was not out of the reach but their hard attacking was snuffed out by a constantly offside St Edwards defence. The referee, consistently poor throughout the game, continued to miss the infringements and Bolton were on the back foot.
Bolton kept on the pressure and a delicate box kick from stand in scrum half Danny Joseph gave winger Ryan Wignall something to chase down. The full back dealt with it well, however the put in at the line went to Bolton. The new look Bolton back line with recent signing Will Bate looking dangerous throughout the match, took up the opportunity of quick ball off the top of the line to attack a tiring Edwards but the final try scoring pass was lacking.

The half was seen out with a further Edwards try, two further penalties and a sin binning for each side following a to-do between Chris Mee and the opposition number 6. Possibly one of the best decisions the referee managed to produce all day having missed multiple high tackles including the cause of one suspected broken cheekbone, dirty play at the ruck, offsides, feeding at the scrum and not straight at the line out as well as being in the way throughout play and calling numerous forward passes due to his inability to keep up with play.

Bolton are still in search of their first victory and will be hoping to exact revenge upon Garstang next week following defeat in last seasons Lancashire Bowl final.