Sadly, a game of two halves.

Anselmians 61 Bolton 27

Bolton travelled over to Merseyside to play Anselmians on a very hot September afternoon at the Vauxhall Sports Ground.
Bolton started the game very well and put Anselmians under a lot of pressure and almost scored in the first five minutes. Anselmians came back into the game and scored the first try in the thirteenth minute with a slick handling move. They then added another try and conversion in the twenty-first minute. Bolton sparked into life and scored immediately. A ball from a lineout led to Will Bate making a good break and he raced through to score in the twenty-second minute. Bolton were starting to retain the ball and making ground through this retention. In the thirtieth minute Niall Murphy made a great break through the defence and passed the ball to Ben Cottam to score. Louis Lockett added the conversion. Within four minutes Bolton were on the scoreboard again when Will Bates ran a great line to beat the defence and passed to Ben Cottam. Ben drew the fullback and passed to Rhys Pritchard to score. Anselmians added another score in the thirty-eighth minute. The half finished with Louis Lockett kicking a penalty to put Bolton into a narrow lead.

Half-time score: Anselmians 19 Bolton 22

The second half started with Anselmians kicking a penalty in the forty-first minute and then in the forty-third minute they scored a try which was virtually the full length of the pitch. Bolton were very much still in the game and scored a try in the fiftieth minute. Good handling enabled Jack Robinson to score, despite being high tackled. Bolton had a couple of injuries with Louis Lockett hurting his ankle, Keiran Shacklock his knee and James Higgins his shoulder. Louis and Keiran decided to stay on the pitch as there were no more back subs. Anselminans had two successful penalty kicks in the fifty-first and fifty-seven minutes. In the last eight minutes Anselmians added three more tries; one an interception and the other two were worked wide.

Final Score: Anselmians 61 Bolton 27

Bolton played some very good rugby at times and managed to secure a losing bonus point. On the day Anselmians were the better organised side but Bolton were not out classed until the last eight minutes of the game. This was mainly due to injury of players. Throughout the game Bolton’s scrum and lineout worked well they also recycled the ball well. In the second half they found it difficult to break down the Anselmians defence. It is pleasing that the support play is getting better.

Man of Match: Will Bate