Last-four woe for Rangers

THE last-four stage of the North-West Counties Cup proved a step too far for Saddleworth Rangers under-14s for the second season running.

Rangers were beaten 30-4 at an impressive Orrell St James, despite going in front.

Ryan Maneely produced a superb scoot from acting half-back to register a score and the next 15 minutes were nip and tuck before Orrell opened their own account.

The home side went on to establish a 16-4 advantage by half-time.

At that point, Saddleworth were still in with a shout — only for the home side to stretch clear in the second period.

While it was an off-day for the visitors, stand-out players were Jay Claridge, Maneely and man-of-the-match Ben White.




OLDHAM St Anne’s under-15s produced a rampant performance to whitewash Ince Rose Bridge away from home.

The final score of 46-0 was achieved with only 14 fit players, with the visitors racking up the points in the second half.

Kyle Mayall put St Anne’s ahead early on, converting his own try, before a Michael Lockwood score, added to by the boot of Nathan Hughes, gave the visitors a 12-0 lead as the sides changed ends.

St Anne’s pounded the Ince line on the resumption and scored some excellent tries through Chris Taylor, Nick Ryan (two), Hughes, Jarred Ward and Ryan Bradbury (two). Mayall added another three conversions.




WATERHEAD under-15s kept themselves firmly on track for promotion to the North-West Counties premier division with a resounding 44-4 victory at Latchford Giants.

Nathan Mason, back after an extensive period out through injury, opened the scoring, only for the Giants to hit back in kind.

The visitors were then forced to defend three drop-outs before regaining possession to score through Josh Johnson, Ben Whitehead adding the extras.

Danny Yates then went in for a fine try, goaled by Whitehead, with Jack Cooke rounding off a fine first-half performance for a 20-4 interval lead.

Further tries arrived in the second half from Johnson, winger Ryan Jones, Whitehead and Jake Shoel, with Whitehead finishing up with six conversions for a personal points haul of 16.