[The following report was mistakenly omitted from the 1st XV v Scunthorpe match programme]
On 8th Feb, the U14s were hosted by Bolton for the quarter finals of the Lancashire Cup Vase trophy. We were expecting a tough game as Bolton were a Pool A team while we were the Pool D underdogs. They also had several big players (one was 6’3” and over 90kg) so our lads had to be defensively strong. The game got underway to a quick try after Bolton burst through our line. We kept the pressure on with a breakthrough by Will H that was stopped, then Harry S found a way through to score next to the corner post, then kicked a tricky conversion to level the score to 7 all in the 11th minute.
Fylde had switched some of the positions, with Harry W moving to hooker, and Oliver O stepping in as scrum half, both doing a great job and keeping us competitive in the scrums against a much bigger pack.
Two more tries for Bolton in the first half and 3 more in the second half saw us lose the game despite some bruising tackles from Sam M, Daithi A, Joe H, and Max B, with Logan C suffering a broken finger (get well soon). The scoreline certainly didn’t reflect the effort the team put in; a strong performance against a much bigger team who used their size and tap and go style to brutal effect.
Our Lancashire Cup journey isn’t over though; we are now into the Semi Finals for the Bowl on 23rd March.
Final score: Bolton 38-7 Fylde
Defender of the day: Daithi A
Squad: Daithí A, Max B, Logan C, Joe H, Will H, Liam K, Raff L-C, Sam M, Max M, Oliver O, Harry S, Fraser S, Jackson S, Harry W, Daniel Y, Max C, George S, Archie B, Archie S.
