So close...

Bolton under 12's traveled over the Pennines to play in a strong tournament at Huddersfield. The first opponents were Preston, who knew our danger men and pressed hard to contain the Bolton back line and the marauding front five.

It was a close fought win, but the boys came out on top with a two tries to one victory (no conversions today). Next up were the mighty Stockport who beat us three tries to nil albeit with two tries virtue of some strange refereeing decisions.

The fortunes seemed to be against the boys with a close defeat against the run of play to Sheffield blues, and a game against the winners of last years Preston tournament, Scunthorpe, imminent.

The boys seemed to recover their morale of the winter games, and fought hard to earn a draw, going close to the line on several occasions and rattling their opponents time after time with some strong plays by Sean Carragher, Josh Padmore and Joseph Cropper hammering the opposition onto the back foot.

Next up were the hosts Huddersfield, and buoyed by the previous game, the boys cut loose with Jake Rimmer, Owen Lewis and Lawson Bates shifting the ball quickly and directly, allowing space for Joseph Cropper and Myles Garth to score hat tricks and rip the opposition backs to shreds. Not to be outdone, prop forwards George Whitehead barrelled his way down the field to score a try which sealed the day and set the scene for the unthinkable, a Bolton under 12's still at a tournament at the end of the day.

Last round was against Sheffield reds, whose coaches were wildly telling their team to go all out to halt the Bolton back line at any cost. This seemed to be working for most of the match with Bolton defending their line and containing the opposition drives as a result of some strong tackles by Josh, Joseph and Joel Matthews. Sean Carragher carried the ball over on the dying minutes to put the boys ahead with a play to go. From the kickoff, Joel appeared to ground the ball over the dead ball line, but the referee awarded and equalising try as the Sheffield winger dropped on the ball leaving Joel still trying to figure the strange rules of Yorkshire style rugby refereeing.

To the shock of the entire crew, we had made the cup final, leaving Dave to reflect on his words of "it's going to be a tough day".

The final came and went, we were soundly beaten by a great Stockport team in the final, and we all went off to reflect on a great day. There is a real sign that the team is progressing well and moving up the rugby ladder at great speed, albeit with a few hard bumps of reality kicking in every now and again.

Pictures of Sean Carragher at the line out.