Pre-season round up: Woolston, Rylands and Latchford in action

WOOLSTON Rovers continued their preparations for the season with a golden-point victory over Golborne Parkside at Leigh East on Saturday.

It books them a spot in the John Lewis Cup final against hosts Leigh this Saturday, kick off 3pm.

"It was a top effort from all 15 players; they really did dig deep when required," said head coach John Fieldhouse.

"We suffered two bad injuries in the first half so only had the 13 players for 50 minutes but they did great.

"Ryan Brown, Matt Clarke, Billy Maunder and John-Paul Ainsworth were outstanding.

"Hopefully we will be able to go into the final with a bit more strength in depth.”

Rovers' tries came from Wil Maudsley, Maunder, Ainsworth, Brown and Richard Potts before the game went to golden point, with Will Chadwick taking a Theo Holt crosskick for the win.

Rovers opened the scoring in the ninth minute when winger Will Chadwick pounced on a handing error and fed centre Wil Maudsley to race 60 metres between the posts. Stand off Theo Holt converted.

Five minutes later hooker Ryan Brown passed out wide to scrum half Billy Maunder and he dived over in the left corner.

 Just before the midway point of the half Golborne got themselves back into the game with a converted try and five minutes later they went in front with another well worked converted score to lead 12-10.

 On the half hour Rovers regained the lead when a great break by Maunder caused havoc in the Golborne defence and after they conceded a penalty the ball reached loose forward John-Paul Ainsworth who scored wide out on the right to make the half time score 14-12 to Rovers.

 Thirteen minutes into the second half Rovers moved further ahead when hooker Ryan Brown forced his way over at the right of the posts.

Holt converted but then Rovers had prop forward Matt Clarke sin-binned along with Golborne substitute Daniel McDonald after a flare up and it was Parkside who scored next with a converted try to narrow the gap to just two points with six minutes remaining.

 Rovers looked to have secured the win three minutes later when a ball out from Maunder found substitute Richard Potts who scored wide out on the left, but then with a minute remaining Golborne scored in the left corner.

The conversion was successful from the touchline to make the score 24-24 and take the game into Golden Point.

In extra time a cross-field kick by Holt was collected by Chadwick who raced over in the right corner to give Rovers a dramatic 28-24 victory.

Rylands Sharks 28 Thatto Heath Crusaders 48  

RYLANDS Sharks endured a tough start to 2016 against a well-drilled National Conference League outfit.

The hosts' tries came via Nick Braide and Gavin Conroy doubles and one for Mike Harrison.

"The boys ripped in and played with a real commitment to each other," said head of coaching Matt Wilson.

"They are disappointed with the result and that just shows where we are at in terms of our development.

"We have got to be a little more honest with our efforts in D and our discipline because the better teams if you’re not then they make you pay and Thatto did that."

The Sharks started brightly opening their account with a try for Nick Braide converted by Luke Gillooley with only two minutes played.

Both sides were evenly matched for the first half hour but a lack of discipline and penalty count of 11-3 allowed Thatto to gain the upper hand with three tries in the space of 10 minutes.

Darren Woods, Brad Ashurst and Sean Leicester efforts were all converted by Leicester, giving the visitors an 18-6 advantage at the turnaround.

The second period followed a similar pattern to the first with the hosts again opening the scoring with two quick tries from Gavin Conroy, both converted by Jack Lewis to tie up the scores.

Crusaders took control of the contest with tries from Jamie Tracey, Sean Leicester, Adam Walsh, Brad Ashurst and Danny Wakefield with Leicester converting all but one effort on goal.  

The final 20 minutes saw a much more even contest with two tries for Rylands through Nick Braide and Mike Harrison, with Lewis adding a conversion.

Latchford 2nd 26 Westhoughton 16

DOUBLES for Jamie Birchall and Dave Yii complemented by tries from Ross Atkinson and Phil Gleave won it for Latchord.

Veteran Gavin Bishop added three conversions.

Head coach Lee Smith said “ I was pleased with the numbers having 24 players available, the new facilities have certainly aided player recruitment and we need a strong squad to provide competition for all places throughout the season.”

The first team host Haydock on Saturday at Victoria Park Stadium, 2.30pm.