Weakened Finch put in gallant effort (From Warrington Guardian)

Weakened Finch put in gallant effort

Roose 28 Haresfinch 0

FINCH arrived in Barrow with just the bare 13 players and competed well for the first quarter, played in atrocious conditions.

But once Roose had taken the lead with a converted try, the visitors' heads dropped and the well drilled home side quickly assumed control.

The gallant Finch forwards put in a lot of effort with big hits coming from Gary Burgess, Neil Kerch and Karl Farrall and strong runs from Stuart Simmons, Ste Richards and Ste Ratcliffe. Although they were 16-0 down at half time, Finch kept the score down in the second period with good efforts coming from youngsters Craig Wilson and Shaun Hudson.

There were also good performances from Andy Burrows, Lee Simmons, Ste Dilsworth and veteran John Hodkinson. John Jackson was the Parr MOT man of the match, with Karl Farrall and Gary Burgess in close contention. Top tackler was skipper Stuart Simmons with Gary Burgess and John Jackson not far behind.

Parkside Golborne 30

Eccleston Lions 2

THE customary pre-Christmas cry-offs saw Lions take on promotion favourites Parkside with a bare 13 and they put up a creditable show.

There was little between the sides in the first half with the homesters scoring a converted try and a penalty and Lions replying with a penalty by Ian Winstanley.

In the second half Lions pressed on several occasions but were unable to turn this pressure into points.

Meanwhile, Parkside took advantage of a number of handling errors to run in a further 22 points.

For Lions Martin Griffiths took the Birkett Motors man-of-the-match with Ste Melia taking the Players' Player award.

Pilks Recs u18 22 Roose 14

FOR the second time in as many weeks Recs were strong enough to see off their Cumbrian opponents.

A Barry Pope break saw Danny Leicester weave his way past three defenders to score under the posts.

Then m.o.m James Lacey stepped his way onto the scoresheet with a well-taken try, with Pope converting both tries.

Pilks led 12-2 at the break.

An 80 metre interception try by Andy Parr, goaled by Pope saw Pilks stretch their lead.

Fine work by Danny Mason and Dave Roberts saw Pope score in the corner. Two late Roose tries set up a grandstand finish.

Thatto Heath u14s 22 Pilks 12

DESPITE the atrocious conditions, both teams played an excellent game.

Try scorers for Crusaders were Dave Sutton(2) and Shaun Forber (2) with conversions by Shaun Forber (2) and Andy Knowles.

Man of the Match was Shaun Forber followed by Andy Knowles and Warren Godman. Andrew Yates, Warren Godman and Andy Knowles topped the tackle count.