Saddleworth at the double

Adam Howard (Counthill, left) and Dom Elkin (Saddleworth) in action.

SADDLEWORTH School’s Year Seven and Year Nine rugby league teams completed an Oldham Schools double, with both sides defeating Counthill in their respective finals at Manor Park.

Superb play from skipper Adam Wardle and a hat-trick of tries from man-of-the-match Joe Harrison Brown aided the Years Seven team’s cause, with Joe Boulter, Seb Leech (two), Jacob Rothwell and Bowden Morgan also on the scoresheet in a 44-0 victory.

The Year Nine final was a titanic battle.

Saddleworth trailed 10-0 early on due to Counthill tries from Danny Yates and Jack Hughes, before a Ryan Maneely dart from dummy half pulled it back before the break.

From there on in the lead changed hands four times and the finale was tense. Counthill’s Elliott Fielding gave his team an 18-12 advantage with just 12 minutes left, only for Saddleworth to turn it around and emerge 22-18 winners, despite being without a number of players including regular captain Ewan Reddyoff (broken leg) and George Eastwood (broken arm).