Boro Colts send Preston hopping
SIX tries, including two from George Roberts, ensured Littleborough Colts made the next round of the Lancashire Cup at the expense of Preston Grasshoppers.
Three in the first and a further three tries in the second half gave the away side a deserved 39-12 victory at Lightfoot Green.
Pre-match the game was expected to be a close affair, on the contrary it was anything but when Littleborough Colts struck with three early tries from fly half turned centre George Roberts, Oliver Bailey and Jordan Clarkey.
Determined to find a way back from a trophy that was rapidly disappearing into the Sunday sunshine, Preston Grasshoppers piled the pressure on the visitors and found the referee as well as Littleborough in accommodating mood.
Boro were heavily penalised for high tackles and ill discipline at the ruck leading to Hoppers finding a way back into the contest with 2 tries.
However, Littleborough were not going to allow their dream start become a burning wreck and replied with further strikes from prop Jack Wilson, Josh Jones and a second from George Roberts.
With two conversions to boot from Will Armour and a man of the match display from his brother Jon Armour, the game was smartly seen out by the visitors as they enjoyed a long trip back home. The youngest of the two brothers Jon was key to a huge defensive effort and his go forward enabled Littleborough to regularly gain valuable yards past the game line and provide front foot ball of which to build from.
Coach Michael Fletcher, who was delighted with his team’s performance, said: “We worked hard, made a good platform and made the ball available for some real creative plays and scoring some great tries. We mixed it up a bit and utilised our bench well to keep them fresh and get everyone plenty of game time.”
Meanwhile, Littleborough’s Under 14 and 16 boys made the semi finals of their respective cup competitions to seal a perfect Sunday for the club.
Boro’s Under 14s, playing at a new venue of Manchester Metropolitan University, dispatched Heaton Moor with a comprehensive 46-17 victory and will now face a semi final against Warrington.
The Under 16s were equally impressive in their quarter final fixture away at Fylde as they recorded a ruthless 45-14 victory. As tough a place to go tries from Ben Stott, Charlie Holmes, Kai Sumner, Brad Watts, Harry Gee and Nicholas Mannion demonstrated why no team will want to face them in the closing stages of this years competition.
The under 13s, 15s and 18s ladies teams were all in action at local side Rochdale rugby and represented the club with aplomb by putting together three unique but talented performances.
First the Under 13’s gained victory with another mature performance that has seen them go from strength to strength in their skill set and continued the momentum they have build steadily building since the turn of the year.
This left the Under 15’s and 18’s to do battle with their best of frenemies to make for a perfect afternoon in the winter sunshine. 32-10 proved to be the margin of victory for the Under 15’s while the Under 18’s game was another one sided affair. For Rochdale all was not lost as they showed glimpses of a bright future in what is their first season of women’s junior rugby.
The under 11s put in one of their best performances of the season to date against a strong Widnes side who also welcomed Wrexham to the Cheshire club. The team have really come on over the last few weeks with some big development after a very tough run of fixtures. Joe Russon was being named man of the match for some outstanding ruck play with a special mention also going out to Katie Makinson who scored the opening try of the day and her first ever in the black, green and yellow of Littleborough.
The Under 8s travelled in great number to the excellent 3G surface at Burnage. The young boys and girls split in two teams maintained their impressive run of results with another three victories and a draw in four fixtures.