Woolston Rovers A 46 Burtonwood Bridge 38

WOOLSTON Rovers A had a thrilling victory over Burtonwood Bridge in a superb preliminary round tie in the Stuart Middleton Foundation Warrington Alliance Cup at Monks Sports Club.

The game was an end-to-end encounter with the lead changing hands several times but it was the extra composure from the home side that saw them come out on top and they will now face Crosfields A at home in the semi finals.

Rovers opened the scoring in the first minute; they forced an error straight from the kick off and from the resulting scrum a couple of good drives put them close to the Burtonwood line and loose forward Tom McIntosh went from dummy half and stepped through a gap to score at the side of the posts.

Scrum half Will Chadwick converted but then six minutes later a long kick downfield by Burtonwood stand off Louie Morrissey was collected by Rovers but a great chase from the Bulldogs team forced an error and L Morrissey was on hand to pounce on the loose ball and score. Winger Andy McLorie levelled with the conversion.

Shortly afterwards Burtonwood took the lead for the first time when hooker Sam O’Garra sent a long ball out to McLorie who went over on the right and then almost immediately winger Wil Maudsley raced seventy metres to score at the side of the posts. McLorie converted to move his side 16-6 ahead.

Rovers responded just after the midway point of the half when a lovely cut out pass from Chadwick on the last tackle found second row Sam Wood who collected superbly to score on the left and then on the half hour the ball was sent along the line to Chadwick who put centre Ian Ward over wide on the right. Chadwick added both conversions.

Five minutes before the break Rovers prop forward Mark Robinson managed to offload in the tackle to put wood over for his second try.

Chadwick goaled and then a minute before half time Wood was adjudged to have been held up over the line but the next tackle saw Chadwick put full back Olly Parr over on the right. Chadwick converted to give Rovers a 30-16 half time advantage.

Eight minutes into the second half a forty metre run by Bridge loose forward Dale Cunniffe stretched the Rovers defence and a quick play the ball enabled full back Oliver Morrissey to burrow over at the side of the posts.

Substitute Jos Blackburn-Woods converted and four minutes later Cunniffe was once again held just short and this time it was O’Garra who went from dummy half to score wide out on the right. Blackburn-Woods goaled to narrow the gap to just two points.

Just before the hour back-to-back penalties put Rovers deep into the Burtonwood half and the ball was sent along the line to stand off Olly Hands who scored in the left corner but yet again Bridge replied when centre Cal Farnham scored in the left corner following a penalty.

Almost immediately Burtonwood scored again when the impressive Cunniffe bulldozed his way over to put this side ahead and Blackburn-Woods kicked the conversion but Rovers refused to let their heads drop and they regained the lead when McIntosh powered over from ten metres out. Chadwick added on the extras.

Four minutes from time Rovers made sure of the win when McIntosh went over on the left to complete a fine hat-trick. Chadwick landed his seventh conversion from eight attempts to complete an excellent 46-38 victory.

The man of the match was awarded to Rovers loose forward Tom McIntosh.

He was well supported by scrum half Will Chadwick, hooker Callum Moore and stand off Olly Hands.

Burtonwood Bulls loose forward Dale Cunniffe was their star man ably supported by hooker Sam O’Garra, Oliver Morrissey and scrum half Mike Rafferty.

Rovers A: Olly Parr; Alistair Worrall, James Evans, Ian Ward, Conor Gerrard; Olly Hands, Will Chadwick; Mark Robinson, Callum Moore, Phil Stevens, Sam Wood, Nathan Evans, Tom McIntosh. Subs: James Jaundrell, Ryan Peters, Mark Forster, Richard Potts.

Bridge: Oliver Morrissey; Wil Maudsley, Cal Farnham, Robbie Batty, Andy McLorie; Louie Morrissey, Mike Rafferty; Darren Cunningham, Sam O’Garra, Frankie Scales, Richard St Pier, Ben Hardman, Dale Cunniffe. Subs: Danny Brown, Jos Blackburn-Woods, Glyn Price, Ross Young.