A fantastic game of rugby finishes with a win for Bolton U18s

A fantastic game of rugby finishes with a win for Bolton U18s
A bright sunny day saw Bolton U18s travel to Crewe & Nantwich with a slightly depleted side, so they had also borrowed 2 U17 players, Matty Morgan and Alfie Kay. Crewe kicked off and new player Ben Nicholson broke the gain line with some strong carries. These were 2 well matched sides, and for 5 minutes there was strong defence on both sides. A careless penalty by Crewe gave David Price the opportunity to kick for goal, and his kick sailed over giving Bolton the first points – 0-3. Crewe came back quickly, but some tremendous tackling by Paddy Hargreaves, Jamie Currie and Tom Heatherington kept battling Crewe back. Then a line-out gave Crewe an opportunity to drive forward, and one of their players peeled off to cross the line. Their try was unconverted leaving the score 5-3 to Crewe.

Bolton quickly won the ball from the kick off and some great passing from David Price to Ross Denvir to Sam Smith saw the ball safely in U17s Matty Moore’s hands. He charged down the field, clearly intimidating the 4 Crewe players who failed to tackle him, and dived across the line. An excellent conversion by David Price saw the score 5-10 to Bolton. Bolton’s strong play by Callum Naylor, Ross Denvir and Harvey Banks kept forcing Crewe to make errors, and soon they conceded another penalty which once again saw Price kick cleanly and the score was 5-13.
From the next kick off Bolton won the ball and some fast play by Alfie Kay, Nathan Taylor and Jamie Currie saw the ball eventually with Adam Hackin, who wasn’t going to be stopped and he scored Bolton’s 3rd try of the match – 5-18.
Crewe came back quickly, and soon scored a second try, leaving the score at half time 10-18 to the visitors.
The second half saw some tremendous tackles by Sam Smith – one of which prevented what looked to be a definite try. Tom Evans at scrum half provided good ball for the backs, and Bolton were unlucky that 2 breaks by Nathan Taylor and Ross Denvir were just short of the line. Ben Nicholson left the field in the second half enabling Morgan Smith to come on for his first ever game of rugby. He made an impression quickly with some strong tackles. Despite this Crewe made a very good run and scored again. With the score at 15-18 to Bolton, the last few minutes were tense, but Bolton continued to tackle well, and their defence never wavered. When the whistle blew, the referee was quick to praise both teams for “an excellent game of rugby – one of the best matches”.