Early tries key to win

RUGBY: SADDLEWORTH Rangers ‘A’ earned a 36-22 victory over Rochdale Mayfield ‘A’ in the Kukri North-West Counties League Division Four.

A return to winning ways saw Rangers open up a 20-point lead with tries from Ewan Winston, Dave Wood, and James and Jack Brennan.

Mayfield opened their account with a converted try before the break.

The Rochdale side crossed again just after the interval, before Lars Haig

powered over for a try and Steven Nield followed suit to put Saddleworth firmly in the driving seat.

Ashley Ballan, who was playing his first game in five years, also crashed over the line.

Two late Mayfield replies were not enough to catch up, and Saddleworth took the points.


Rochdale Cobras stormed to a 46-12 victory over basement boys Eccles.

Cobras are fifth in the table, in stark contrast to their latest victims, who have lost all four of their matches so far this term.

Fitton Hill went down to a 58-27 defeat at Chester after a poor first half performance in Division Six.

Hill improved considerably after the break.

There were positive performances from Dean McKewen, Carl Molloy and Jack Donbavand. Mark Fitton was Hill’s man of the match.