All Golds see off University in friendly warm-up ahead of cup trip

THE All Golds continued their preparations for Saturday’s Challenge Cup tie against Drighlington with a friendly game against the University of Gloucestershire at Oxstalls on Sunday.

Played in three 20-minute periods, the game provided the All Golds squad with an opportunity to shake off the ring rust from the off-season and stake a claim to a place in the team to make the journey to Leeds.

The All Golds came out on top 26-12 after an entertaining contest as they made the most of some hesitation under the high ball by the students to lead 10-0 at the first interval.

Tom Gaffney crossed for the first try after a high kick was allowed to bounce before Ash Lewis powered over to score and add the extras himself.

The students upped their game in the second period, putting much more intensity into their play and scored two converted tries in the space of five minutes to take the lead at 12-10.

However, at the second break, the All Golds had a 14-10 lead thanks to Kirk Lewis’ close-range try. The All Golds, though, had been forced to weather a storm. Their defence close to their line was good as the period provided the sort of workout head coach Marcus Brown was looking for.

The third period saw the All Golds extend their advantage with two converted scores as they dominated play showing some incisive finishing. Gaffney grabbed the first, running back a poor attacking kick some 60 metres to score before Alasdair Anderson finished a flowing move out wide. Sam Hodge converted both.