Shield slump

IT WAS a dismal day in the Halbro Shield for Oldham RUFC as the second, third and fourth teams all suffered first-round defeats.

The ‘A ’XV crashed to a 32-11 loss at Christleton despite fielding their strongest side for some time.

Oldham dominated most of the opening period and ought to have had more to show for their efforts than a Michael Collinge try which followed a neat handling move.

Christleton scored a try shortly before the interval to make it 5-5 and the hosts scored again soon after the restart before adding a further two tries in quick succession to lead 20-5.

Though Danny Simpson kicked two penalties for Oldham, Christleton scored two more tries, one of which was converted, as they secured an emphatic victory.

EXTRA ‘A’ scored the only try of the game at Blackburn thirds, but were edged out 6-5.
After a scoreless opening hour, Oldham fell behind to a penalty before hitting back to take a 5-3 lead through a Mark Martin try in the corner.

Blackburn snatched victory with a penalty, though Oldham could still go through as there is one place allocated to the best loser.

VETS, who are Oldham’s fourth team, were beaten 29-3 at Preston Grasshoppers where they took an early lead through a Rick Brierley penalty.

Grasshoppers hit back with two unconverted tries to establish a 10-3 half-time lead, though Oldham were upset by the loss of prop forward Andy Jones through injury in the opening half which left them with only 14 players.

Preston made their extra man count in the second period, scoring three further tries, two of which were converted.

COLTS ended their losing streak with a 14-7 victory at Blackburn, though they had to battle from behind before triumphing.

Oldham enjoyed all the early pressure, but were unable to convert it into points and they fell behind to a converted try as they trailed 7-0 at the break.

It was not until 15 minutes from time that Oldham made a breakthrough when Michael Ward crashed over by the posts with Mark Goodman adding the conversion to level the scores.

And it was Ward who struck again with two minutes left - Goodman adding the two extra points to seal a victory which moves them into fourth place in their league.