Oldham break away duck

RUGBY UNION:

Burnley 1st XV 13, Oldham 1st 59
OLDHAM secured their first North Lancashire Division One away win of the season in style.

With a strong wind blowing across the pitch, Oldham started the better of the two sides and ran the ball at every opportunity.

A tap-penalty saw the ball moved to Josh Brown, who dummied his way through the Burnley defence to score before converting with a super kick from the touchline.

Alan Lee’s try and Phil Leck’s excellent conversion levelled the scores before Jamie Edwards replaced the injured Dean McEwan in the Oldham front row after 30 minutes.

Edwards made an immediate impact, driving forward to set up good ball for the Oldham backs.

From the ruck, Gareth Barber provided a neat pass to Brown, who fed it inside to Phil Graham to cross the line.

However, the referee deemed the final pass to be forward and disallowed the try.

Oldham defended stoutly with John Suitor and Jack Hawkins putting in some crunching tackles.

But the referee felt Oldham’s backs had encroached and handed a penalty to Burnley which was despatched by Leck to give them a 10-7 lead.

And the same player slotted another shortly after as Burnley went into half-time 13-7 ahead.

Oldham totally dominated the second half, scoring 52 unanswered points.

Kyle Howard dived over in the corner, then Graham made an outside break before feeding Barber, who ran 50 metres to score under the posts. Brown converted to put Oldham 19-13 ahead.

John Gillam raced fully 70 metres to score under the posts, Brown again converting, and the same player touched down out wide. Brown struck a beautiful conversion from the touchline.

Gillam completed his hat-trick, Brown goaling again, before the excellent Barber slipped a great pass in the tackle to Graham, who quickly fed Gillam on the outside.

He unselfishly passed inside to the ever-supporting Mike Crouch when he could have scored himself.

Graham broke through several tackles to score under the posts, Brown adding the extra two points to make it 52-13, and it was man-of-the-match Brown who completed the scoring with a try following a neat chip.


Hesse power play as ‘A’ team go on the rampage

Oldham ‘A’ 72, Aldwinians 3rds 0
THE last time Oldham played Aldwinians at this level there was only one winner – and it wasn’t Oldham.

But the hosts went into this game boasting the welcome addition of Jordan McEwan, Will Mellor, Jack Taylor and Joe Hesse and started in sixth place, five places above Aldwinians.

Liam Armstrong dived over in the corner before Jack Taylor touched down to the left of the posts.

Oldham had to wait another 20 minutes for their next try when Jack Taylor burst through the centre before Ross Cooper, looking more like a centre than a number eight, bludgeoned his way towards the line and flipped out a pass for Rhys Jones to dive in at the corner.

Just before half-time, Oldham won a line-out on the right and shipped the ball to the other wing for Jordan McEwan to score a well-deserved try and secure a 34-0 lead.

Four minutes after the break, Phil Conroy made a stunning break before passing to North to touch down.

Joe Hesse bulldozed his way up the middle and passed to Armstrong to record his second try, and six minutes later Ross Cooper added his name to the list of scorers with an excellent try.

The next Oldham try was superb. An Aldwinians defender was caught in possession by Hesse, who put in an awesome tackle which flattened his opponent.

He then picked up the loose ball and passed to Mellor to score under the sticks and convert his own try.

A minute later, Conroy made yet another break, carrying the ball 50 metres out of his own defence before feeding McEwan, who in turn passed to Mellor to touch down. Mellor again converted.

Four minutes from the end of a totally one-sided game, Hesse burst through the middle of the Aldwinians defence to score Oldham’s final try.