Flying start in quest for title repeat

RUGBY: SADDLEWORTH, the defending champions, started their attempt on a fourth consecutive North-West Schools’ title with an impressive 44-14 win over Walkden High, from Salford.

Capitalising on some unforced errors, the local side built up a 30 points to four lead at half-time in a game played at North Chadderton after the originally ground failed a pitch inspection.

Walkden displayed excellent spirit in the second period to raise hopes of a comeback, but three further tries secured Saddleworth’s place in the next round and a trip to Southlands School, Chorley.

C Bolton (two), J Casson (two), R Maneely, R Hansford, J Leigh and S Booth were the try-scorers, while B White (five) and J Bradbury kicked the goals.


WATERHEAD under-17s piled up 78 unanswered points away at Cadishead Rhinos in the preliminary round of the North-West Counties Cup.

Try-scorers were Sam Wilson (three), Luc Kinder (three), Hayden Jones, Zac Massey, Michael Percy (two), Ross Maher, Anthony Mellor (two) and Niall Dunnington-Wallace.

Kinder kicked 11 of the 14 conversion attempts.

Waterhead under-14s played some fine inventive rugby as they came away from Rylands celebrating a 36-20 victory.

Alex Fallon and man-of-the-match Harry Pattinson each registered a hat-trick of tries, while Kyle Cook got the other. Four goals made up the tally.


REECE Travis opened his account for Saddleworth Rangers under-12s, who displayed bucketloads of character and determination to defeat Milnrow Cobras 16-10.

Josh Hall broke the deadlock after just five minutes with a superb solo effort, only for Cobras to reply with a try from a well-worked move.

The local side were back in front when the excellent Travis scored his first try for Rangers, and he doubled to his tally early on the second half.

A defensive error allowed Milnrow to narrow the gap, but Rangers held their nerve in driving rain and scored a fourth try when Tom Brisk touched down under the posts from Nathan Knowles’ superb kick.


HIGGINSHAW Eagles under-15s lost nothing in defeat as they went down 30-14 against a powerful Orrell St James outfit.

In a terrific first-half display, the Eagles took the game to their hosts and were unlucky to trail 12-10 at the break. Tries came from Bradley Turner, while Jack Hughes added a conversion.

Josh Queenan touched down in the second half for the Eagles, but two late Orrell tries provided a flattering look to the scoreline.


OLDHAM St Anne’s under-10s were beaten 22-16 by a strong West Bank side.

Michael Grabowski scored a try in the first half for Saints and boy-of-the-match Macauley Jones added two more after the break. Jones converted one and Sam Hall kicked the other.