Stanningley 30 Woolston Rovers 22

WOOLSTON Rovers' 2015 season came to a heart-breaking end when they were narrowly defeated at Stanningley in the National Conference League Division Three play-off semi finals on Saturday.

The game ebbed and flowed throughout with the outcome in the balance right up to the last minute, but it was the home side who managed to hold off the brave challenge of an excellent Rovers side and move in to the play-off final next weekend at Drighlington.

Stanningley opened the scoring in the 15th minute when stand-off Mark Wool spotted a gap in the Rovers’ defence and raced through it to score.

Scrum half Callum Smithson converted but Rovers hit back three minutes later when hooker Ryan Brown found scrum half Billy Maunder on the last tackle and he put centre Paul Berry over on the left.

Winger Chris Twigg levelled the scores with the conversion.

Rovers went ahead almost immediately when stand-off Will Chadwick found full back Wil Maudsley and he split the Stanningley defence to run away and score at the right of the posts.

Twigg converted but then it was Stanningley’s turn to respond as hooker Sean Cooper pounced on a chip through to score under the posts.

Smithson added the conversion to make the score 12-12.

Stanningley edged ahead with a Smithson penalty goal three minutes before the break and then a similar effort right on the stroke of half time gave the Leeds side a 16-12 interval advantage.

Three minutes into the second half Rovers prop forward Chris Mellor was tackled just short of the line, but a quick play the ball saw Brown put Chadwick over on the right to level the score.

However a kick from Stanningley wasn’t dealt with by the Rovers defence and winger Josh Roberts managed to collect the ball and race unchallenged to score between the posts.

Smithson added the conversion.

Just before the hour a pass from Chadwick found centre Justin Becher and he broke away to score at the right of the posts.

Chadwick converted his own try to tie the scores for the fourth time, but five minutes later Stanningley created an overlap on the left that saw second row Chris Holder exploit to score in the corner.

Smithson converted superbly from the touchline to re-establish a six-point advantage for his side.

Rovers continued to press in the hope of taking the game into golden point but that chance was extinguished a minute from time when Smithson landed a penalty goal to give Stanningley a gritty 30-22 win.

The Rovers’ man of the match was awarded to hooker Ryan Brown.

He was very well supported by stand-off Will Chadwick, loose forward Harry Files, centre Paul Berry and full back Wil Maudsley.

Head coach John Fieldhouse said: “That really is a cruel way for our season to end; we gave it our all but unfortunately the bounce of the ball and a few crucial calls went against us at crucial times and that proved pivotal, although we did carve out numerous chances to win the game but it wasn’t meant to be.

“I have been so proud of the way that we have played this season, there have been many positives, and I cannot wait for the new campaign to get started as I am sure that we will be ever harder to beat next year.

“I’d like to thank all the players for their efforts and to everybody behind the scenes who have given me their total support.

“We are building something very special at the club and it promises to be a very exciting 2016 on and off the field.”

Rovers: Wil Maudsley; Chris Twigg, Justin Becher, Paul Berry, Christian Taylor; Will Chadwick, Billy Maunder; Jack Sherratt, Ryan Brown, Chris Mellor, Anthony Clayton, Tom Keevil, Harry Files. Subs: James Rosson, Dan Fearnley, Lewis Hoarty, Bobby McGregor.