Bolton 1st XV 15 - Tarleton 1st XV 5

Bolton 1st XV took the opportunity to move up the league table with a hard fought victory over a spirited Tarleton side. Tarleton attended Avenue Street with an organised squad and from their pre match warm up they were prepared to do business on a serious level.

Following exceptional work by the ground staff this week the pitch was looking in reasonable condition and with firm ground underfoot both sides attempted to play running rugby from the early stages. Although Bolton appeared to be suffering some hang over effects from the previous week, Tarleton provided moments of running rugby to illustrate their threat. It was Tarleton who were first to take the lead when a questionable off side decision at the scrum was not given and due to some loose tackling from the Bolton cover the Tarleton seven crossed the line much to the delight of the other Tarleton players.

From the restart Bolton immediately shifted up a gear and after a ferocious chase from Brogan and the outstanding Brodie, Tarleton spilled the ball and after a number of good phases Lovgreen slotted home a drop goal to leave Bolton with a 3-5 half time deficit. However both teams were temporarily reduced to 14 players as the game was marred by a minor altercation between the two flankers.

Bolton continued to up the pace of the game and with some fine passages of play within the back line moved slowly up the pitch. With refereeing decisions beginning to work in Bolton's favour Bolton slowly managed to begin to dominate the game. Strong runs by Keech and Pritchard began to edge Bolton towards the Tarleton line with all the Bolton forwards constantly recycling good ball. With some prompting from Singleton at scrum half the pack exerted their dominance and this allowed Cooper to gleefully make up for his sin binning as he crossed the Tarleton line with defenders hanging off him.

Lovgreen missed the conversion to leave the game finely balanced at 8-5 in Bolton's favour. However Bolton continued to play with renewed vigour and realised they needed another score to close out the game. A strong run by Bolton's winger Howarth brought Bolton within striking distance and good carries by Mee and Hilton preceded a Bolton player being held up over the line. From the resulting scrum the Bolton pack showed their true colours by creating a controlled drive allowing captain Brodie to show his footballing skills before gratefully dropping on the ball to score. A magnificent effort from a pack which has not undertaken any recent scrum practice due to the recent inclement weather.

Lovgreen added the two to make Bolton safe at 15-5 however the team still retained their hunger to increase their lead and only embattled defence from the Tarleton players, who showed a superb attitude all day, prevented further scores taking place.

Overall a hard fought but ultimately satisfying victory which will stand Bolton in good stead for next weeks testing trip to Birchfield.