Avenue Street looked glorious under the spring sun prior to Bolton’s 1st XV home fixture to Cockermouth 1st XV. Bolton came into the fixture on a good run of form having won their last two previous fixtures.

Bolton opted to kick off the day's proceedings, with Cockermouth opting to play towards the clubhouse first half. The first 10 minutes was all Bolton.

Bolton assaulted the Cockermouth defensive line in a flurry of scathing attacks, and quickly found themselves two tries ahead. First try in 3 minutes went to Jake Rimmer. Bolton’s standoff Ben Price slotted the conversion and again 4 minutes later threw a great ball and burst through the line and slid across the whitewash. Price then proceeded to convert his own try leaving Bolton 14-0 up in under 10 minutes and the Cockermouth team wondering what was happening.

Cockermouth began to rally, dragging themselves back into the game. They started dominating possession and moving the ball left to right across the park with grace and attacking prowess. Big forward carries followed up by the backs spinning the ball wide caught Bolton’s defence and led to back to back breaks, culminating in Cockermouth’s first try of the day through Sam Wilson who showed some nifty footwork and scored under the sticks, with Luke Armstrong following up with the conversion.
The game then suddenly opened up for both sides running into the half time whistle. Bolton would break the line and go the length, followed by Cockermouth turning the ball over and retorting with swift running rugby of their own to push possession deep into Bolton territory. This passage of strike then saw two further tries to Bolton, and one further try for Cockermouth.

Bolton’s Jack Robinson broke through and over the line on 26 minutes, with the on-form Ben Price converting for Bolton. Cockermouth’s Sam Wilson danced his way through for his second, with Luke Armstrong converting. Lastly Jake Rimmer secured Bolton’s last try of the half, on 33 minutes, this time unfortunately Price pushed the conversion wide.

The second half started off quickly seeing Cockermouth’s Luke Armstrong bustle his way over the Bolton line for Cockermouth to secure the first try of the second half. Armstrong also slotted the conversion and Bolton had a game on their hands.

With the game pretty much even on the scoreboard, Bolton struck the next blow. Ben Price unleashed the mighty Jake Rimmer down the left flank who ran 60 yards and over slid home out wide to secure Bolton another 5 points, Ben Price knocked the conversion wide on this rare occasion.

Unfortunately for Cockermouth, Bolton’s Rhys Pritchard on the outside of Cockermouth’s Sam Wilson and extended away … a collision between Wilson and Pritchard saw the game's first yellow card.

The yellow card created a shift in momentum, and allowed Bolton to break the deadlock and pull away from the visiting side over the last 30 minutes of the second half with another Jake Rimmer try, converted by Ben Price, and Ben again securing and slotting a penalty kick. Cockermouth’s only reply was Luke Armstrong kicking a penalty.
Superb game from both teams and especially from Bolton’s head coach Richard Rawlinson who at the age of 62 played 60 minutes of Competitive rugby.
Final Score: Bolton 1st XV 41 – 27 Cockermonth 1st XV