Bolton 4th XV - 41, Burnley 3rd XV - 0

Missing the influential player that is Nick “Beau” Bridges, who had been summoned to the 3rd team bench, the task was more daunting. But straight from the off, Bolton slipped into third gear and ran the ball at and around the Burnley defence.

A fine run down the wing Sam “maldives bound” Chinn saw him unceremoniously tackled at chin level and the referee had no hesitation in awarding a penalty try. The kick in front of the posts was missed by Dan “they still hurt” Thomas.

Shortly afterwards a blindside break by captain, Keith Howie, which left the Burnley players for dead. He scored the try under the posts and then converted.. At this point Bolton were all over Burnley and once again Chinn was released to storm down the wing, dipping his shoulder to barge the full back out of the way to cross for a further try. Howie converted.

And then the big surprise, Victor “yes I can run” Alaoye tore off the side of a ruck, spun off the first tackle, danced his way around a further tackle and frightened the full back to death as he bore down on him. He finally crossed the line running backwards. Once again Howie added the extra points. At this point, Tom Davies, from Bolton’s u19 team was introduced to the fray. After being buried at his first touch of the ball, he shrugged it off and got down to playing rugby.

Half time Bolton 26 Burnley 0.

In the second half Bolton eased off and allowed Burney back into the game, with some tense moments in their own 22. Tom “drinking incident” Comery was always safe at 10, and was quite prepared to run the ball from his own 22 when the option was there, ably supported by centres Dan Thomas and Martin “annual appearance” Plimmer.

Andy Jolly, playing at full back, also joined the line to give the Bolton attack the extra man. Meanwhile the forwards were still dominating their opposite numbers. From a scrum in the Burnley 22, Bolton’s younger players drove the visitors to their own line to allow number 8 Mark “not the doctor” Higgins to flop over the line. Shortly afterwards Jack “laid back” Dickinson outsprinted everyone to round the Burnley defence , to cross the line, to . . . . drop the ball ! At this point Burnley lost a player to injury, so Jim “it’s high up here” Sharples stepped forward to play for them. To no avail, as soon after James Long ploughed his way thru the Burnley forwards to score. He did have an option to pass to the aforementioned Jack Dickinson, but chose not to.

As the match drew to a close Danny Thomas made a break thru the middle which split the Burnley defence. One man to beat and he passed to . . . Jack Dickinson, who crossed the line and touched down. The conversion from Higgins, his first and last, split the corner flags.

Final score Bolton 41 Burnley 0.

The tackling demons had been put to rest, as Bolton’s defence held firm all afternoon. The continuity of earlier weeks had also returned. Captain Howie was a happy man, even if he was subbed off.