Boults treble takes sting out of Hornets

Wayne Kerr celebrates his touchdown

OLDHAM 44, HORNETS RL 14
BIG names from Oldham RL Club's past gathered at the Whitebank Stadium to watch the class of 2010 beat derby rivals Hornets RL for the third time this year.

Mick Worrall, Bob Marsden, Adrian Alexander, Lyn Morgan, Kenny Payne and Mike Elliott were among the former players who saw Tony Benson's men once again earn local bragging rights on the back of an outstanding performance from the pack, highlighted by Jason Boults's try hat-trick.

Prop power smashed the Hornets into submission in the second half when Boults went in for his third try in the 61st minute before his fellow front-rowers Dave Ellison and Wayne Kerr also crossed the Hornets line after spectacular finishing that totally justified the Roughyeds' status as Co-operative Championship One runners-up.

What the old timers made of it all, only they know. But the front-rowers among them must have appreciated how Boults ran the right angles close to the rucks to constantly find the gaps in a suspect Hornets defence; how Ellison utilised strength, sidestep and speed to terrorise the visiting forwards down the middle; and how Kerr produced exceptional pace for a prop to score from deep inside his own half.

It was hardly surprising that Boults, scoring his first try hat-trick in a long professional career with Bradford, Halifax and Oldham, lifted the club's official man-of-the-match award. Or that Irishman Kerr's exciting dash to record his side's eighth and final try in the 72nd minute earned him a champagne-moment award.

Ben Heaton came in for the injured Marcus St Hilaire and did a good job in the backs before performing equally creditably when switched to the back-row of the pack shortly before half-time.

And Johnny Walker, who made his debut alongside Joe Chandler in the second-row and came up with a performance which augurs well for his future prospects.

The second Oldham try, scored by Greg McNally in the 13th minute, was one of the finest tries seen at the Whitebank all season and it was fashioned to a large degree by Walker, who handled twice in a right-wing raid that had 'class' written all over it.

Neil Roden's wide pass created space at half-way. Walker, operating as a wide runner, straightened up and released Lucas Onyango, who moved inside powerfully before transferring to Walker.

The young forward was aware of McNally on his shoulder and, in one movement, he took Onyango's pass and moved it on at great speed to send McNally racing away to the sticks. Superb stuff.

Three minutes later McNally was over again. This time the architect was the clever Neil Roden, who saw space behind the advancing Hornets defence and chipped beautifully into the in-goal for his half-back partner to race through and score.

At that stage Hornets were not for giving in. They kept in contention with tries by winger Bolu Fagborun and Craig Ashall, but they constantly had trouble in coping with Oldham's clever ball movement up the middle and close to the rucks.

Boults scored twice in the first half before John Gillam touched down a Neil Roden cross kick in the corner to record the fifth Oldham try and to take the home side into a 16-10 interval lead.

Hornets drew first bloo after the break when Fagborun went in at the corner for his second try, but after that it was one-way traffic.


Benson happy with his lot


UPBEAT Tony Benson, the Roughyeds' boss, was delighted with his team's performance in trouncing derby rivals Hornets RL 44-14 at the Whitebank.

Hunslet's win at Blackpool finally confirmed what Benson has been building towards for the last few weeks — a second-place finish in Co-operative Championship One and yet another crack at promotion via the play-offs for the fourth time in as many years.

"It was no big deal when news of the Hunslet win came through," he said, "because it wasn't a surprise after all. We have felt for some time that we would be going into the play-offs as top of the qualifiers and we have been planning and building our game accordingly.

"We know for sure now that we will be at home on September 12 against the team finishing third.

"These are exciting times for the club. We've nearly two weeks off now before we play our final league game at London Skolars and then we will have another two weeks' break before the big play-off game at the Whitebank.

"We set ourselves a number of goals going into the Rochdale game and although I am not going into details I am happy to report that we achieved them all.

"We have stepped up a level in crucial areas. Apart from anything else it was important we beat the old enemy from Rochdale for all our loyal fans and in achieving that so comprehensively it was a pretty good all-round effort."

John Stankevitch, his Hornets counterpart, questioned the desire of some of his players and conceded that Hornets were well beaten in every facet.

He added: "We had a very simple game plan — nothing complicated at all — but some of my players went hiding.

“It clearly didn't mean as much to them as it did to the Oldham players. "