Bury 1st XV 8 v 57 Bolton 1st XV

Bury started the brighter side, and took an early lead with a deserved penalty after a Bolton infringement at the breakdown. This was to be Bury's last meaningful attacks of the half, as Bolton were sparked into life and took control.

A dominance scrum was allowed Bolton an excellent platform from which to launch wave after wave of attacks, with fly half Rhys Pritchard pulling the strings, putting the strong Bolton runners through gaps in Bury's defence, Number Eight Matthew Parrish was in particularly dominate form, as he continually broke the first line of defence. The pressure was beginning to tell, and after another powerful scrum, experienced prop Sam Hilton burrowed over for Bolton's first try. The conversation was missed, but Bolton assumed the lead at 5-3 after fifteen minutes.

This was all the encouragement that the Cherry and Whites needed and they soon moved their dominance from the set piece into midfield, where Captain Dave Bruen and Will Bate were starting to exert their authority of their Bury counterparts.

Good ball retention and strong running from Ash Cooper and Louis Critchlow set up another promising position in the Bury 22", a gap opened up for Pritchard and the in-form stand off wasn't about to squander the opportunity, as he scampered over for Bolton's second try. He converted it himself and the away team were 12-3 in the lead after 25 minutes.

Two further converted tries following before the interval with lineout supremo John Stryker claiming a deserved score as well as a penalty try, which underlined Bolton's forward dominance. Both were converted by Pritchard and the score was 26-3 to Bolton at half time.

During the break, Bolton knew they had more to give in the second half, and even though the bonus point was secured, there was no relenting in Bolton's play. This was epitomised by Tony McClaughlin's try three minutes into the second half. He showed great desire in shrugging off the would-be Bury tacklers to storm over under the posts, Pritchard converted to extend Bolton's lead to 33-3.

Bolton's next try came form the irrepressible Ash Cooper who dominated the contact area to power over after a near blindside move, the conversion was missed, but Bolton were well in control at 38-3.

The best try of the match followed, as a length of the field move, involved almost all of the Bolton xv was finished off with aplomb by Skipper Bruen, Bate converted to make the score 45-3, just before the hour mark.

To their credit, Bury stuck to the task, and came back at Bolton with some determined running, and deserved a score of their own, which arrived after some sloppy Bolton defending.

Three weeks ago, Bolton might have taken their foot off the gas, but continued to press and broke the fifty point barrier with a breakaway score from influential scrum half Mark Doherty, who spotted a gap around the ruck area and sprinted away to score.

The scoring was completed on 75 minutes after centre Will Bate danced around a couple of tired Bury defenders and raced under the posts, he converted his own try to complete the scoring.

Although Bolton were dominant in the game, there are aspects they will need to improve upon if they are to continue their winning run next week away against Garstang.