Agonisingly close at Avenue Street

James Franks remained at hooker due to the late withdrawal of Skipper Cockton and Jonny Stanfield was given his first taste of 1st XV rugby with James Singleton also failing Thursdays fitness tests.

Bolton started as the brighter of the two sides linking together a string of attacks in both the forwards and the backs with scrum half Andy Crimmins pulling the strings. Within the opening 5 minutes Bolton opened up the Warrington defence to put Rhys Pritchard in down the right hand side. Mike Mills added the extras from the tee and Bolton looked on top at 7-0.

This galvanised Warrington and they began to dominate possession at the breakdown, with Bolton guilty of over committing in defence. Frustration from the home side provided Warrington with two kickable opportunities which their full back duly slotted to bring the score back to 7-6.

Warrington were also next on the scoreboard. A not straight at the lineout was ignored by the official and from the ensuing possession the visitors went over for a good score following some hard running from their number 8 and a strong supporting line from his second row. The conversion was good and Bolton were now on the back foot at 7-13.

However Bolton were not rolling over yet and some terrific defensive work lead by the irrepressible Ash Cooper and James Brodie lifted Bolton’s work rate. The Cherry & Whites were heaping the pressure onto the visitors and eventually it told when the ball was spilled, Rhys Pritchard was on hand to scoop it up and race in from half way for his second of the day. Mills was accurate once more. 14-13.

Bolton continued this pressure and were soon rewarded with possession of the ball once more. Mark Doherty at full back made a telling break that opened up the Warrington defence supported by Liam Ray and Mike Richardson. The ball found its way out to Nick Smith who straightened to preserve the space out wide for Mills to exploit, dotting down over the try line to take the score to 19-13 at half time. The conversion missed.

At half time Bolton knew they were on top and an early score could seal the deal and put a dampener on Warrington’s spirit, but it appears Warrington came out more fired up then Bolton and began to take apart the Bolton scrum. 3 strikes were lost against the head in the second half and Bolton’s struggle to secure their set piece proved to be their downfall.

Pressure on the home team caused them to give away a kickable opportunity early on in the second half which the Warrington full back took full advantage of to bring the scores to 19-16. They built on this soon after with a converted try following some flowing moves from their backline to take the lead 19-23.

Mike Richardson hit back for the home team and notched up his 4th try of the season after making the most of a broken field with his usual hard running style. Mills was able to add the extras to extend Bolton’s lead to 26-23 and Bolton had the try scoring bonus point in the bag.

But Warrington were not done yet and soon added their 3rd converted try due to some poor tackling around the fringes from a notably tired Bolton team. Louis Critchlow was soon sin binned for a cynical challenge off the ball that prevented Warrington collecting the bonus point and was soon joined on the side lines by John Stryker for tripping over a player on the floor. Despite Critchlow being binned 15 minutes from time, he wasn’t allowed to return to the field, much to the annoyance of the home crowd who were getting riled by some interesting decisions from the official.

The pressure told on Bolton and a further penalty was given away allowing Warrington to add to their lead 26-33 just before the final whistle.

Bolton defended stoutly in the final 15 minutes to deny Warrington a bonus point and should take heart from that, however it is another loss in what is proving to be a tough season for the Avenue Street men.

“A minutes silence was observed on Saturday in memory of 8 year old Maisie Sullivan, the daughter of Warrington’s former 1st XV captain who sadly passed away last week. Bolton RUFC would like to extend its condolences to the family of Maisie and all those at Warrington RUFC for their tragic loss.”