Amidst a carnival atmosphere, Bolton battled to a hard-fought victory against fellow sesquicentennial celebrants Southport with scrum half Jack Robinson providing the crucial second half try.

It was a special occasion at Avenue Street with balloons, music and ceremony greeting the First XV, giving this special fixture the atmosphere it deserved and both teams didn’t disappoint. The first quarter was attritional with Southport enjoying the majority of possession with Bolton having to withstand a barrage of strong carries. Bolton’s front row of Chris Lane, Rory Biggins and Gareth Evans stood up particularly well in the loose and began to gain a foothold in the scrum. The first points would come 15 minutes in from a penalty conceded from a Bolton lineout just inside their own 22 successfully converted by Southport's fullback, 0-3 to the visitors.

A few minutes later Bolton were reduced to 14 men as Rhys Pritchard was given a yellow card for a tip tackle, Bolton's defence remained strong throughout and only conceded another converted penalty in his absence. 0-6 with half an hour gone.

The long-awaited return of Louis Critchlow from injury added a new dimension to Bolton’s ball carrying and, after a lovely inside pass from scrum half Robinson, Critchlow steamed over from ten metres to give Bolton the first try of the day. Fly half David Price kicked the extras taking the score to 7-6 at half time.

Bolton started the 2nd half strong. The midfield triumvirate of David Price, Will Bate and Rhys Pritchard began to click. Pritchard made a telling break with Bate on his should only to be held up over the try line. Field position was gained and, from the base of a strong scrum won against the head, Captain Ben Cottam drove over to score to give Bolton a 12-6 lead 5 minutes into the second half, but it was still anyone’s match.

Southport began to be more adept at releasing their three quarters, pinning Bolton into their own half. Bolton's lack of discipline gave Southport a number of opportunities. They converted one taking the score to 12 - 9.

A potentially huge turning point came just after the hour mark when the influential Will Bate was yellow carded for dissent, and to add insult to injury, the referee also awarded Southport with a penalty try following this infringement, much to the dismay of the bumper Avenue Street crowd. Southport now edged ahead 12-16.

Another penalty conceded took the score to 12-19 to Southport with 10 minutes to go.

Bolton now back to 15 with Bate back on the pitch looked to move towards Southport's try line. Field position was gained through Miracle Gospel and Paul Leigh made an impact off the bench. it would be the effervescent Robinson who, following an excellent set piece move, darted through some despairing tackles to snake over for to level the scores. JR9 converted his own try, 19-19 with about 4 minutes to go.

Bolton remained on top and series of penalties conceded by Southport gave Jack the opportunity to kick a penalty to take the final score to 22-19.

In what was a great day for the club, Bolton and Southport served up an entertaining match played in the same competitive spirit which was undoubtedly seen all those years ago in 1872. Whilst a draw might have been more fitting for such a joint celebration, Bolton probably deserved the victory.

More pictures at: https://www.boltonrugby.co.uk/photos/150yr-matches-1st-1004559.html