Saints inspired by Ewan’s magic show

ON THE CHARGE: Jordan Curtis and Jordan Hanley, of Waterhead under-16s, look for a way through the Haydock Warriors line.

OLDHAM St Anne’s under-15s got the better of neighbours and title rivals Waterhead 18-0 in division one of the North-West Counties League.

Both defences held out for a gruelling 25 minutes, before Saints broke the deadlock through Ewan Reddyoff, who cut through the back line to score.

The conversion was missed, but Saints added a penalty to their total courtesy of Nathan Hughes.

The second half started in a similar fashion to the first, only for Reddyoff to open up the Waterhead defence with another piece of magic.

Kyle Mayall converted and, with 10 minutes to go, Saints got their third try through Hughes. Martin Swaine added the extras.

After storming into an early three-try lead, Saints under-eights could have been forgiven for believing this would be a walk in the park.

But a more physical Hindley side stormed back and Saints had to show good discipline to run out winners by 10 tries to nine.

The stand out player in a stand-out team performance was Ethan Chappie, who scored five tries and made 22 tackles.

Alfie Baldwin, Asa France,Thomas Barnes and Ben Ivell (two) also touched down.

The under-nines recorded a well-deserved win at Leyland, with tries from

boy of the match Sam Hall (three), most Improved player Jack Smyth, Robert Charles and Macauley Jones. Lewis Croft was outstanding in defence.

The under-10s put up a good fight before succumbing 28-6 to a well-drilled Pilkington Recs side.

Saints’ failure to deal with their opponents’ kicking game cost them.

Their only score came from some sharp play from Owen Baldwin, who added the conversion.


SADDLEWORTH Rangers under-14 turned in a fantastic display of free- flowing rugby to record a 62-0 win against Ince Rose Bridge.

Ince had beaten Rangers earlier in the season, but they could not live them this time.

Leading 32-0 at the break, Rangers continued their domination of the match in the second half.

Try scorers were Lewis Galbraith (four), Ben White (three, plus seven conversions), Chris Bolton (two), Ryan Maneely, Jack Connor and Scott Booth.

The coaches award went to Charlie Stringer, who came on as a replacement prop, Ryan Maneely was man-of-the-match for his outstanding work at loose forward.

Rangers under-eights enjoyed a convincing home win against Westhoughton, who were on the back foot from the word go.

Rangers had established a five-try lead by half-time, after which they lost captain man-of-the-match Kien Molly through injury.

Tries were scored by Bradley Jinks, Ben Forster, Adam Howarth, Tom Healy, Elijah Wolstenhome and Josh Yarwood.

Rangers eventually emerged 11 tries to two winners.

Two scores from the last two sets of the match saw Rangers under-nines slump to a nine tries to seven defeat against Mayfield Mustangs.

In a fiercely contested game. both teams went toe to toe and they were locked together at three tries apiece at the midway point.

With Tom Jones (two), Nathan Roebuck (two), Matt Fletcher, man-of-the-match Josh Molloy and Matt Tetlow on the scoresheet, Rangers appeared on course for victory.

But a lack of discipline allowed Mayfield to snatch a last-gasp victory.

Back at Churchill playing fields after the best part of a year, Rangers under-11s struggled to establish themselves against a powerful Ryland Sharks outfit and went down 28-12.

Sharks scored first through their effective passing game, which left the home side rooted to the spot.

They added two more tries to their tally, only for Rangers to cross the line just before half-time after an excellent push by Ali Hassan

The home side showed battling qualities throughout the second period, and excellent tackling by Lewis Adams held the Sharks at bay.

A superb effort by Josh Hall — he ran virtually the length of the pitch — buoyed Rangers, but another three scores saw Sharks re-establish their superiority.

A patched up Rangers under-15s side were made to work hard for their 30-12 victory over an improving Fitton Hill Bulldogs side, who were returning from a four-week lay-off.

Try-scorers for Rangers were Luke Du Feu (two), James Maude (two), Liam Wilcock and John Deakin, while Nathan Shaw-Langhorn added three conversions.

Shaun Cadwallader touched down twice for Bulldogs, both goaled by Declan Bridgehouse. Peter Maude was man-of-the-match.


A CALLUM Maddox try was scant reward for Fitton Hill Bulldogs under-nines, who conceded 10 against a classy St Jude’s outfit.

Jerrold Coughlan was the top tackler, while Aiden Buin and Sanchez

Francis battled hard. The coaches award went to Kurt Nevitt.


WITH two games to go, Shaw Rhinos under-15s clinched promotion in the North-West Counties Youth League after they defeated Rochdale Mayfield 24-4.

Leading 10 at half-time, Rhinos went on to secure a resounding success.

Man-of-the-match Luke Bentley broke the deadlock and Sam Bentley got the second, before Bentley again, David Kelly and Hammah Hussain, with his first try of the season, completed the tally.


DESPITE tries from Jordan Hanley (two), Luc Kinder, Jack Mayall and Anthony Mellor, Waterhead under-16s slipped to a narrow 30-26 defeat at Haydock. Kinder added three conversions to his tally.