Woolston Rovers 48 RAF Leeming Hawks 10

WOOLSTON Rovers defeated RAF Leeming Hawks in the inaugural Royal British Legion Challenge Trophy at Monks Sports Club on Saturday.

A bumper crowd, that helped raise £867.72 for The Poppy Appeal, watched Rovers assemble a 30-0 interval lead with tries from Spain international Danny Garcia O’Brien, Chris Mellor, two, Graham Healey and Matt Clarke.

Ian Ward, Mike Ward and Josh Sudlow got in on the act for Rovers in the second half, with Dan Walker and Dafydd Roberts crossing for Hawks.

Healey went on his own from dummy half to score the opener after three minutes, with Garcia adding the first of his seven conversions.

Smart passes from Sudlow put Mellor over twice before Chris Brown split the RAF to send Garcia flying home.

An audacious pass from Rovers’ man-of-the-match Scott Whiteley fed Clarke for the final try of the first half.

A break of 40 metres by Danny Griffiths paved the way for Ian Ward’s try before Hawks bagged successive touch downs, Walker’s from a grubber kick and Roberts’ effort from a long break.

Order was restored when the ball was swept along the line for Mike Ward to score, with Danny Griffiths landing the touchline conversion.

Sudlow went from dummy half to complete the scoring.

Rovers: Danny Garcia O’Brien; Sam Vernon, Matt Robinson, Chris Brown, Christian Taylor; Dave Manfredi, Graham Healey; Chris Mellor, Josh Sudlow, Matt Clarke, Anthony Clayton, Lewis Hoarty, Scott Whiteley. Subs: Dan Fearnley, Ian Ward, Dominic Ball, Mike Lagar, Mike Ward, Callum Moore, Sam Wood, Joe Maher, Danny Griffiths.

Orrell St James u15 8 Crosfields Cobras u15 6

A LAST-MINUTE try from Orrell saw young Soap end the season with a defeat, to leave them with a top-three finish in the North West Counties League Premier Division. Louis Wainwright was their try scorer.

Rylands Sharks u8 40 Burtonwood u8 12

CHARLIE Fairbrother claimed the player-of-the-match award with a five-try performance. Connor Barton added a hat-trick, with Ben Gwilliam and Morgan Morris also crossing the whitewash. Bobby Burrill took the top tackler award.

Blackbrook u8 24 Rylands Tiger Sharks u8 32

FOUR tries from player-of-the-match Charlie Yeomans helped Sharks finish the season with a win. Jamie Shallcross scored twice, with coach’s award winner Ciaran Card and Max Myers-Davies adding the others.

Woolston Rovers Greens u7 32 Crosfields u7 24

WOOLSTON’S tries came from Daniel Stelfox, three, Andrew Gamble, two, Jake McBride, two, and Dylan Allen. Player of the match was Andrew Gamble and top tackler Ben Taylor.

Clock Face u7 24 Rylands Sharks u7 8

SOLID defence from Rylands was the highlight against a strong Clock Face side. Player of the match Will Hutchinson and coach’s award winner Conan Prescott crossed for tries. Evie Rose Irving sharing the coaches award and Jack Fallon was the top tackler.

Clock Face u7 24 Rylands Sharks u7 16

BRUISING defence was again on show in a second game between players from Rylands and Clock Face. Top tackler was Josh Cowell, Oliver Garmston was named player of the match, while Toby McGucken and Oscar Rattigan shared the coach’s award.