Match report 2nd team 22/10/10

Bolton made the long trip upto Kirkby Stephen to play Upper Eden. Bolton won the toss and received kick off. Upper Eden made the better start and had most of the possession and territory. After 5 minutes Bolton backs received the ball in their own half and Marriott put Rees into space who made good yards before offloading to Hurst. Rees supported well and received the ball back off Hurst which put him clear to score. The extras were added on by Barlow. Upper Eden kicked off deep and Bolton let it bounce into touch. From the line out Upper Eden mauled and rucked well allowing their scrum half to dummy and go quickly from the back of a ruck to score. The conversion was missed taking the score to 7-5. After the restart Bolton began to control possession and Upper Eden gave away numerous penalties at the ruck which allowed Barlow to kick a penalty giving Bolton a 5 point lead. Once again from kick off Bolton failed to deal with the restart and Upper Eden applied pressure. It was Bolton’s turn to give away penalties and Upper Eden went for posts reducing Bolton’s lead to 2 points. The game was fairly balanced with Bolton’s rolling maul causing Upper Eden some problems. With good field position Bolton set up a rolling maul from a lineout out and drove over for Townsend to score. The conversion was missed. The home side then came back at Bolton with good running from their forwards. Bolton’s defence held strong with some good tackling bringing the first half to a close with Bolton leading 15-8.

The second half started with both teams kicking for territory. Bolton then began to control possession and camped in Upper Eden’s half with Rees and Hurst consistently making yards. From a Bolton lineout the visitors set up a maul which was driven towards the try line before Mclaughlin broke from the back and powered over to score. Barlow failed to convert leaving the score at 20-8. As the second half drew to a close, Upper Eden had a good spell of possession and put Bolton under real pressure with some excellent running from their pack. As the home side shipped it wide they knocked on straight into Sandbrook’s hands who found himself clear. He opted to pass to Hurst who ran the length to score, Barlow missed the conversion and the referee signalled the end of the game giving Bolton a 25-8 victory.

Tries – Rees, Townsend, Mclaughlin, Hurst

Penalties – Barlow x 1

Conversions – Barlow x 1

Fraser Hart MOTM - Rees