Bolton take the Win in a cracking game of rugby

Bolton RUFC 4th XV 7 – Orrell St James 5

Bolton welcomed the league leaders Orrell St James to Avenue Street in monsoon type conditions with the rain lashing in, the wind blowing across the hallowed turf and one man and his dog stood watching the warm up.

It promised to be an afternoon of hard graft and mistakes aplenty with the weather hardly lending itself to running rugby.

In an early meeting at the start of the season OSJ had completely decimated Bolton with their indomitable running style and uncompromising forward grunt and for the initial exchanges it looked like a case of more of the same as OSJ pounded away at the Bolton back line with strong running and aggressive off loads allowing them to gain good ground across the park.

James Dean and his back line showed a real strength of spirit from the off making good tackles across the park with Danny Doyle returning in the pack and making his presence felt at all times.

However Bolton could not hold back the blue tidal wave of rugby for an indefinite period of time and approx 15 mins into the game OSJ broke well down the right hand side and following some strong running from two of their pack their prop forward took a short ball round the side of the ruck and managed to brush off two tacklers before crossing the whitewash to open OSJ’s account for the day. The conversion struck the post and bounced the right way for once from Bolton’s point of view and the score stayed 5-0.

Bolton had been in the game but only on the defensive and they knew this had to change. Sam Kelly at scrum half began to look for a few of his runners from the kick off. Finding Chris Yates and veteran Dave O’Byrne from the base of the rucks whilst against a larger pack the home side began to dominate both the scrums and lineouts with Jimmy Cowling and Jerome Van Der Westhuizen winning good ball to provide a strong platform for a few rolling mauls.

OSJ responded in kind and isolated the Bolton back 3 by putting them under pressure with the boot and also continuing to pound away in the centres where they were met by strong tackling by Eldin Topalocic who seemed to have rediscovered some of last season’s hunger for the contact area. No quarter was asked and none was given as both sides wrestled away in the mud and rain with Chris Yates providing some nice carries from the base.

Injuries began to mount for the Bolton team with James Dean and Captain for the day Stuart Macdonald both having to leave the pitch illustrating the physicality of the game. Youngsters Conor Orrell and Jack Crompton continued to hold firm in their tight defence with Nick Bridges switching to the role of full back and Sam Kelly switching for Darren Robinson.

Ismail Dipoti came into the front row battle and immediately set about his opposite number where Daniel Doyle had left off with Bolton now establishing a firm dominance in the tight.

Half time brought words of encouragement from the experienced management team of Towler and Kelly who merged into the same man on the sidelines to become “TOWKEL” the dominant force in coaching in the lower leagues, masterminds of the oval ball and tactics.

Bolton could almost sense the tide turning in their favour following half time, Cowling was winning ball at will in the line out which allowed stand in fly half Ken Sackfield to release Topalovic to run some nice lines deep into the visiting sides defence. A series of penalties against OSJ saw Sackfield pin them back in their 22 and with O’Byrne crashing the ball in OSJ conceded a penalty approx 15 yards out. Stand in skipper Hardman was in no doubt and opted to scrummage in the hope of driving OSJ back over their line. The ball was won and Bolton applied the pressure only for OSJ to stand up in the scrum to concede again, Bolton again opted for the scrum knowing any further infringement would mean the referee taking a view on the play, Bolton again applied the pressure and the scrum started to move forward only to be deliberately wheeled by the OSJ pack. Second penalty conceded and Hardman again opted for the scrum approx 7 yards away from the line.

Bolton heeled the ball cleanly and started to march towards the line only for OSJ to collapse the scrum. Not wanting to be denied O’Byrne picked up at the base and attacked the line only to be denied by some great tackling before an OSJ player dived over the ball blocking the ruck. By this stage the referee had seen enough and awarded Bolton a penalty try under the posts. The kick was duly converted in a very ugly fashion by Sackfield to give Bolton a slim lead of 7-5.

With only 15 minutes remaining Bolton knew they would have to be at their resolute best to hold onto this lead as OSJ threw everything at them to try and breach the defence. With the coaching supremo that was “TOWKEL” switching their subs back in to try and stem the tide Bolton held out with desperate tackling and some brilliant turn over ball from Orrell and Crompton creating some respite. OSJ’s big runners returned to the fray only to be halted by Sackfield, Topalovic and Jonny Hill who had a measured impact on his return from a serious knee injury from last season and his recent tabloid making nuptials.

With only 4 mins remaining Bolton seemed to have weathered the storm until skipper Hardman was penalised for not releasing in the tackle, within goal kicking range the young OSJ scrum half, who had had a fine game throughout, lined up the kick only to see it drift agonisingly wide of the posts and Hill cleared with a booming kick again. OSJ countered in final mins with a number of attacks only to see the Bolton veterans O’Byrne and Hardman standing in their way the final attack was hauled down yards short of the try line with the ball crossing the line, an OSJ player grounded it much to the despair of the Bolton players until the referee signalled a knock on in the tackle and blew his whistle, concluding a very hard fought game in adverse conditions.

Bolton now proceed to the next round of the cup in jubilant mood along with their second team who defeated Macclesfield 3rd XV.