Bolton Rugby Club's U12s and U14s Amazon girls travelled to Winnington Park Rugby Club in Northwich on Sunday to take part in the Northern Girls Network cluster event. Girls from North West clubs who may only have small numbers are invited to join others so that they get the opportunity to play matches.
Bolton U14s girls were fortunate to have a full squad for the event. It is said that ‘Good defence wins matches’ which proved to be true on the day. After last weeks loss v Littleborough at home and after video analysis of the match, the girl's midweek training session concentrated solely on their defence.
Bolton U14s first match was against old foes, a combined team from Trafford Metrovicks and Eccles RUFC. This game was very evenly matched but Bolton retained possession of the ball better than their opposition and after several minutes into the game Erin Shaw, after a powerful and confident run, scored to make the score 5 v 0. The try was unconverted. Bolton’s defence was holding strong until a lapse in concentration let the opposition through a gap who raced away to score under the posts. Bolton rallied round, and took control of the game with powerful carries from Raid Hodgkinson-Bostock and Felicity Redford before Iona Barnes broke through and dotted down under the posts and converted her own try. The score now was 12 v 7. Bolton continued to stop the opposition attacks with stout defence, with the combined efforts of Holly Turner, Amelia Crook and Sophie Rose stemming any opposition attacks. Sammie Makin playing on the wing was unlucky not to score, along with Jasmine Cox who was stopped with a try saving tackle. Tope Oyeside on the opposite wing had a good all round performance. Eilidh Burns playing at scrum half scored her first try of the day after some great forward pressure close to the oppositions line. Score 17 v 7 to Bolton, before a late try from Trafford made the final score 17 v 12 to Bolton.
The second game of the afternoon for the U14s was against a combined team from Chester RUFC and Rochdale RUFC. In this game the tries were more plentiful from the two evenly matched teams, however again the work on Bolton’s defence paid dividends. Bolton came out on top by 4 tries to 3.
Two tries by Amelia Crook, and a try each for Eilidh Burns and Jasmine Cox with three converted made the final score 26 v 19 to Bolton Amazons. Betty Weall playing at full back was awarded the captain's choice of player of the matches for her communication. Jasmine Cox and Iona Barnes were the parent's choice of players and the coaches award this week went to the whole team. Two matches and two wins.
Our three Bolton U12s teamed up with girls from Winnington Park as they had done at previous cluster events. Maddie Iredale, Aisha Abdi and Eve Barrow all representing Bolton. Their first game was against a combined Chester and Rochdale and they ran out easy winners 7 tries to 1. Their support play was exceptional. In the second game the girls were mixed around and they faced a stronger team but their tackling was immense to keep the score just to 2 v 4. Aisha Abdi got on the scoresheet to score one of their two tries. In the third match the Bolton girls were split up with Aisha and Eve being tackled by their own team mate Maddie after she had switched to the opposition.
Eve Barrow scored two tries in this final match in which her and Aisha won by 6 tries to 1.

The U12s are looking for new players to join them from Yr 6 and Yr 7 to increase their playing
numbers. If you are interested please email girls@boltonrugby.co.uk.