Teamwork inspires Barber hatrick

Bolton Under 16s were again without some key members of staff this weekend, Eddie Redfern (14,9) Kieran Shacklock(9) JackRobinson (12) Liam Austen(5).In addition, David Davenport failed a late fitness test with a sprained ankle picked up playing for the Colts last weekend.

However, Bolton welcomed back the free running and dynamic tackling full back Jubair Miah from injury and were helped out again by our Under 15s. Paul Meredith started at 13 and Shaun Monaghan at scrum half.

This was billed as a very tough game and Tarleton looked a very well drilled outfit from the moment they arrived.and Bolton knew they were going to have to assert themselves early on.

Bolton started promisingly turning good defence into attack with hard tackles made by Cameron Barber (8), Jack Crompton (6), Bav Ragu (3) and Ryan McClusky (14). Hard tackles earned a scrum to Bolton after a Tarleton knock on, though this was to be the first of several that Tarleton won on Bolton’s ball.

The Tarleton backs looked dangerous but a threatening move came to an abrupt end with Miah (15) taking man and ball into touch with an outstanding piece of aggressive defence.

Both lineouts struggled on their own ball and George Wilkes made useful yards after winning the Tarleton lineout ball. Although Bolton turned over the following ruck, Jacob Thornley made an excellent 20m run after Bolton had cleared up a loose ball. The Bolton forwards support was excellent and its greater mobility this week showed, culminating in a penalty awarded to Bolton 5m out from the Tarleton line. The penalty move straight off the training ground saw Cameron Barber touch down for his first try of the afternoon. Will Lomax continued his impressive run of place kicks from the right hand touch line. 7-0 (12 mins)

Further pressure from Bolton came following the kick off, Harry Stockton floating a long and adventurous pass to Jacob Thornley who caught the ball high above his head with great skill and was promptly tackled high, giving Bolton a penalty on the Tarleton 22m line. Bolton won the follow up lineout but unfortunately knocked on in midfield. Overall, with a much changed back line the handling was good and the backs had a much greater influence on the game. Strategically this proved to be a difficult challenge for Tarleton to rise to, being stretched by strong running from the whole backline. It was good to see new acquisition Paul Meredith (13) showing determination to follow up kicks and make important tackles and clear up loose ball.

Half Time Bolton 7 Tarleton 0

Injury to Shaun Monaghan meant that George Wilkes was moved from open side flanker to scrum half and Connor filling in at 7. This was potentially going to take some adjusting to. However, from the Bolton kickoff, Cameron Barber swooped on the loose ball and sprinted to the line for his second and undoubtedly his best try of the season to date. He might have done Will Lomax a favour and touched down a little nearer the posts, but ultimately this was entirely unnecessary as Will bisected the posts with geometric like accuracy to make it 14-0.

The game did get a little scrappy at this stage, a few turnovers and handling errors form the home side which prompted the head coach to pass on some highly relevant biomechanical information vociferously from the touchline that ‘You have to bend your back in order to pick the ball up!!’ A line much enjoyed by all the home support.

Tarleton had 2 unsuccessful penalty attempts and put Bolton under a lot of pressure close to their try line. From one loose ball 5m out from the Bolton line, Ryan McCluskey(14) picked up the ball and accelerated up the touchline, breaking at least 3 tackles before finally being tackled 10m from the Tarleton line,the support play was excellent resulting in recycled ball but unfortunately a bit of over eagerness meant that Bolton knocked on, missing out on a good scoring opportunity and from the clearance Tarleton manufactured a runaway try of their own following Bolton’s failure to clear up loose ball. 14-7

Further injuries to Harry Stockton and Jubair Miah brought JacobThornley into 10 and he and George Wilkes worked well as a new half back partnership, the former sending up an excellent ‘up and under’ that produced more pressure on the Tarleton line. Louis Townsend led a slick rolling maul up to the 5m line and then made an excellent break and selflessly off loaded Cameron Barber for him to complete his hatrick. 19-7

The game was finished a few minutes early after a neck injury to Joe Kusnyer, but fortunately medical expertise was available and Joe was thankfully able to leave the pitch in a vertical position much to everyones relief.

As the title of this report suggests, this was a fine team performance, players changing position and making valuable contributions and coming off the bench to take up key roles in attack and defence. There are now many good tacklers in this side which means that sides will have to work very hard to score against us. We have come a long way since the defeat at the hands of Ormskirk.

More work on technique and strategy in the coming weeks will surely see this side develop further into an even tighter unit capable of changing its tactics to suite changing circumstances and stronger opposition.

Man of the Match: Jacob Thornley(12.10) -Ran some strong lines, solid defenceand greatkicking from 10.

Champagne moment: 1st half - a string of 6 or 7 excellent tackles culminating in Tarleton knocking on – demonstrated the improvement in aggressive defence this team is building together.