Boro fail to make good on promise of first half comeback

LITTLEBOROUGH RUFC came up short on Saturday after they were defeated away from home against Hawcoat Park RUFC.

Having made the long journey up to Cumbria the weather and playing conditions were good, but the result for Boro wasn’t to be.

The hosts went in front just two minutes from kick-off, crossing the line for the first of what would turn out to be four tries throughout the afternoon.

After initially going behind, Boro made a good impact with a nice break by young stand off George Roberts but then Hawcoat Park took over again and ran in their second try, all within the space of five minutes.

Once again Boro applied pressure from the kick off but the home side received the ball and simply kicked back into Littleborough’s half where Henry Ashworth gathered and made an effective break.

Pressure in the Hawcoat Park 15 metres area saw George Roberts this time making an effective break, which was followed with a great try by Jack Whittles, with Roberts adding the conversion, to reduce the deficit to 10-7.

This now looked better for Boro until Hawcoat Park received a penalty which they converted. Still determined, Boro applied further pressure from scrum half Chris Kolbuck, followed with a great break as ever from Matthew Goldthorpe and topped with another burst from try scorer Whittles up to Hawcoat Park’s five metres line, but the hosts once again kicked the ball well down field into Littleborough’s half.

Boro put in yet another great attacking run from that man Goldthorpe, who ran a good 25 metres bursting past the opposition defence and his side followed that up with simple passing rugby for Whittles to cross the line for his second try of the afternoon, making the half-time score 13-12, proving there was nothing in it at this point.

Reflecting on the first half nobody would have guessed the outcome of the second half as Boro had fought back and practically got back on level terms but unfortunately for them things suddenly went sour.

Player changes were made by Boro but it was their opponents who were applying constant pressure and it wasn’t long before they crossed the line again for their third try, unconverted but still meaning they stretched their lead to 18-12, just when it seemed Littleborough would have been the team to have taken the lead from their performance in the first half.

Try as they might, Boro could not match their first half performance, although full-back Chris Park constantly joined the Boro backline in an attempt to set them on the front foot and winger David Kearns looked like he had made an opening for himself but was brought down.

The game continued in Hawcoat Park’s favour with them attaining another converted try and two more penalties, while Littleborough scored one more converted try.

It was rather a disappointing finish for Boro who had promised much in the first half but just couldn’t deliver in the second, meaning they lost 31-19.