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Sun 20 Oct 2019
Under 14sVale of Lune
12
31
Bolton u14's 12 v Vale of Lune u14's 31
graham good20 Oct 2019 - 15:56
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Vale prevail in a match that was far closer than the score suggests
Bolton have had a nightmare start to the season. A long term injury (broken ankle) to their best player, the regular scrum-half did the same in the 1st training session in September and last years fly half has left for boarding school. With a load of new players, positional changes and the new rules what we needed was game time, instead we got the worst September/October weather anyone can remember so today was only the 3rd outing for the new look squad.
So bring on Vale of Lune, one of the best u14 teams in the North West. Undaunted, Bolton took the game to Vale, after a pulsating but very even 8 minutes, a Vale handling error on the Bolton 22mtr line saw Josh Bentley Hughes fly hack the ball 4 times until he was able to touch down to make the score 5-0. Thirteen minutes in, a dominant Bolton scrum somehow lost the ball and Vale managed to get the ball to their extremely fast centre and some lackluster tackling saw him cross under the posts, with the conversion the score read 5-7.
Then disaster struck, Bolton devised a series of ever more bizarre ways to give Vale the ball, from 'not straight' line-outs, penalties for silly technical offenses and finally kicking the ball direct to the Vale centre. So, after a 17 point blitz in only 6 minutes Bolton were desperate for the half time whistle, with the score 5-24.
The second half was completely different Bolton played superbly and had the best of both possession and territory but to Vale's credit they somehow managed to keep Bolton out. Finally, after 18 mins, a relieving Vale kick went out in the Bolton 22, having won the line-out Bolton managed to throw the ball into their own in-goal area and the subsequent 5 mtr scrum saw Vale score.
For the last 7 minutes Bolton again rang the changes, regular scrum half Jack Good came on and Archie Stocks dropped back to fly half. Daniel McGuiness also returned but as a make-shift flanker. From the kick off Bolton exerted massive pressure on the Vale defense, with a series of scrums getting ever closer to the line. Finally a 5 mtr scrum saw Jack flick the ball to Daniel, who was initially held out but when Jack and Archie joined the drive he grounded for Bolton's second try. Finlay Rennie converted to make the final score 12-31.
All in all it was a strange game, for all but 6 minutes it was even but those 6 minutes saw us lose by 19 pts. Hopefully, the team will learn from these lapses. Better still, the game was thoroughly enjoyable, played in the right spirit by both teams and expertly refereed by Dom Gregson.
So bring on Vale of Lune, one of the best u14 teams in the North West. Undaunted, Bolton took the game to Vale, after a pulsating but very even 8 minutes, a Vale handling error on the Bolton 22mtr line saw Josh Bentley Hughes fly hack the ball 4 times until he was able to touch down to make the score 5-0. Thirteen minutes in, a dominant Bolton scrum somehow lost the ball and Vale managed to get the ball to their extremely fast centre and some lackluster tackling saw him cross under the posts, with the conversion the score read 5-7.
Then disaster struck, Bolton devised a series of ever more bizarre ways to give Vale the ball, from 'not straight' line-outs, penalties for silly technical offenses and finally kicking the ball direct to the Vale centre. So, after a 17 point blitz in only 6 minutes Bolton were desperate for the half time whistle, with the score 5-24.
The second half was completely different Bolton played superbly and had the best of both possession and territory but to Vale's credit they somehow managed to keep Bolton out. Finally, after 18 mins, a relieving Vale kick went out in the Bolton 22, having won the line-out Bolton managed to throw the ball into their own in-goal area and the subsequent 5 mtr scrum saw Vale score.
For the last 7 minutes Bolton again rang the changes, regular scrum half Jack Good came on and Archie Stocks dropped back to fly half. Daniel McGuiness also returned but as a make-shift flanker. From the kick off Bolton exerted massive pressure on the Vale defense, with a series of scrums getting ever closer to the line. Finally a 5 mtr scrum saw Jack flick the ball to Daniel, who was initially held out but when Jack and Archie joined the drive he grounded for Bolton's second try. Finlay Rennie converted to make the final score 12-31.
All in all it was a strange game, for all but 6 minutes it was even but those 6 minutes saw us lose by 19 pts. Hopefully, the team will learn from these lapses. Better still, the game was thoroughly enjoyable, played in the right spirit by both teams and expertly refereed by Dom Gregson.
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