Club Round-Up
It was a fruitful weekend for two of the club’s other senior sides as the Alliance and women’s teams both recorded victories. In a Friday night match the Alliance defeated Woolston Rovers 34-12 with tries for Garry Fitzmartin, Matty Campbell, Joe Harrison, John Woods, Chris Slater and Sam Shepherd, the latter also kicking five goals.
On Sunday the ladies started their season under new coach Phil Irish with an away fixture at Chorley. The Miners had four players Emma Hodson, Carly Crowther, Sarah Robinson and Laura Bent playing their first competitive game for the club, and all acquitted themselves well. The game was played in blustery conditions throughout, with Miners having the benefit of the wind in the first half. The ladies started strongly with Rachel Thompson scoring a try following a break from her own half. Miners continued to work the ball on the left edge, leading to Nicola Gater scoring out wide to take the score to 8-0. The lead was extended when Rachel Thompson broke from a scrum deep in the Miners’ half, she passed to Emily Mullen who ran half the length of the pitch to touch down under the posts, Emily added the conversion to take the score to 14-0. More pressure on the left edge led to a try for Rachael Ogden and a half time score of 18-0.
Coach Phil Irish made several changes at the break and it was Dianne Winnard who opened the second half scoring with her first touch of the game. More pressure on the Chorley line led to Captain Clare Thompson touching down from close range. The final score of the game for the Miners came from Sarah Robinson who broke the line and ran 30m to touch down. The Miners’ line was finally crossed late in the game, when following back to back penalties Chorley scored in the corner to leave the final score as 30-4.
After the game, Phil commented on the excellent defensive effort from the team and picked out Carly Crowther, Rachael Thompson and Emily Mullen for their contribution and picked Clare Thompson as the player of the match for her outstanding contribution throughout the game. The coaching staff have identified some areas to work on in training this week and are looking forward to their first home game of the season against Rochdale Hornets on Sunday 30th March.
Final Score 30-4
Half Time 18- 0
Tries – Rachel Thompson, Nicola Gater, Rachael Ogden, Emily Mullen, Dianne Winnard, Clare Thompson & Sarah Robinson
Conversions – Emily Mullen (1)
The under-18s suffered a narrow defeat at home to Ince Rose Bridge 20-24 despite tries from Declan Flannery, Alex McPolin, Chris Worrall and Jamie Hall, Adam Ashurst with two goals.
