Under 16's Cup quarter final Match report 7th March 2010

Bolton’s U16s travelled to Southport on a crystal clear morning with a squad depleted by injuries over the last few weeks. Luckily a couple of welcome returns to the squad got the numbers up to a full turn out – just!

Although we left Bolton’s pitches frosted over, the ground in Southport was in a great condition for rugby. Bolton kicked off with replacement Fly Half Eddie ‘Hang Time’ Morton lofting the ball into the Southport half for No.8 ‘Hit Man’ Hampson to chase; unfortunately there must have been a little more lift than Hampson was used to as he took the catcher out just before the ball got to him. Was this the attacking Bolton side the Coaches had urged them to be?

Unfortunately the next 20mins saw Southport rack up a score of 26-0 as Bolton’s finest resorted to missing or failing to complete tackles and being turned over in possession. But the next quarter of the match saw them hold there own and start to push back at the Southport line. Half time came with no further score and with the way the play was going a chance for Bolton to get a few points.

Not to be though, as within 10mins of the restart Bolton again faltered in their defence and allowed soft scores by the home side. But again there were periods of positive play as well for the U16s in the second half.

Plus points were; the domination of Bolton’s pack in the scrum, Jack ‘Party Boy’ Partington hooked the best he has all season and took a number against the head. Supported by the two pillars of ‘Bull’ Barber and ‘Rhino’ Chambers the front row controlled the set piece and with the powerhouse of Locks ‘Panda’ Charnock and ‘Bear’ Doherty the back row had a stable platform to control and provide clean ball. The line out fired all day and spoiled the opposition set piece and Bolton’s mauls made good progress up the pitch. There were some great covering tackles made to prevent further scores, the best of these was from Morton having to track back after the Southport attack had again wandered through the first and second lines of defence, out of position tackling needs were also met by ‘Chopper’ Kelly and ‘Axe man’ Holmes. The game wouldn’t been complete without the returning talent of Brownie & Banksy – a big thank you for helping out this week chaps!

Bolton U16s are out of the Lancashire Vase but can still look forward to a Semi Final in the Lancashire Bowl on 28th March against Blackburn.

Man of the Match – Myles Barber – workhorse across the pitch and out of this season’s normal position stabilised our front row and destroyed the oppositions.

Tackler of the Match – Eddie Morton – the best of some of the desperate scrambling defence required at times.