Woolston Rovers 40 Leigh East 16

BEN Dixon’s excellent personal points haul featured in what was Woolston Rovers’ best display of 2019 according to head coach Mal Holt.

The scrum-half converted six of Rovers’ seven tries – two of which he scored himself – to total 20 points at Monk Sports Club on Friday evening.

Alex Smith and Harry Files crossed the whitewash before the break while Nick Braide, Lewis Hoarty and Wil Maudsley did likewise in the second half to ensure opponents Leigh East were never close enough to launch a comeback.

The win – coupled with Dewsbury Celtic’s defeat on Saturday – allowed the Green and Golds to go outright second in National Conference League Division Three.

“That was a great win for us against a very physical Leigh East side,” Holt said.

“We needed to produce our best performance of the season against a quality side and that's what we did.

“Considering the weather wasn’t the greatest, we played some great rugby and controlled the game throughout.

“I couldn’t be prouder of the lads. They did everything that (assistant coach) Rob Campbell and I asked of them.”

Woolston: Aaron Barber; Wil Maudsley, Justin Becker, Lewis Hoarty, Alex Dunne; Theo Holt, Ben Dixon; John Welch, Ryan Brown, Niall Toher, Dan Fearnley, Alex Smith, Harry Files. Subs: Christian Taylor, Josh Sudlow, Cameron Davies, Nick Braide

Woolston Rovers A 42 Eccleston Lions 24

SEAN Withington inspired Woolston Rovers A to a place in the North West Men’s League Cup quarter-finals.

He scored four tries and kicked as many conversions on Saturday as Rovers eventually saw off a game Eccleston outfit.

Alex Dunne also scored twice and kicked one goal, with further tries coming from Kieran Sudlow and Jack Inman.

First-team assistant coach Rob Campbell took charge for the match and was impressed with how his side dealt with some testing weather conditions.

“That was a tough game but the boys really stuck together and got the job done in the end,” he said.

“It wasn’t pretty at times and the driving rain didn’t help, but we managed to gain momentum in the second half and score some terrific tries to make sure we got into the hat for the next round.”

Woolston A: Alex Dunne; Dominic Walker, Louis Nixon, Nathan Evans, Daniel Farrell; Olly Hands, Louis Griffiths; Tom Harvey, Jack Inman, Ben Crewe, Simon Bishop, Kieran Sudlow, Sean Withington. Subs: Kieran Moore, Lewis Kirkpatrick, Ryan Peters, Tom Fagan