WOOLSTON Rovers lifted the Carlsberg Warrington Cup with a 34-10 victory over Culcheth Eagles.
Both sides contributed superbly to a great spectacle but it was the extra class that the Rovers had in their armoury that saw them record a comfortable win against an Eagles side who kept going right until the final whistle.
Rovers opened the scoring in the fourth minute when a kick by centre Mike Stout was fumbled by Culcheth and winger Tom Keevil pounced on the loose ball and twist in the tackle before touching down in the left corner for an unconverted try and then four minutes later Rovers ran the ball on the last tackle and it reached hooker Scott Whiteley who scored at the side of the posts. Scrum half Daniel O’Brien added the conversion.
On thirteen minutes Rovers stretched their advantage when some lovely handling saw the ball reach full back Will Chadwick and he managed to find centre Ryan Jones who scored in the right hand corner but then just before the half hour mark pressure on the Rovers line by Culcheth was rewarded when loose forward Ross Pendlebury forced his way over wide out on the left.
The Rovers regained control three minutes before the break when good work by second row Sean Conway stretched the Eagles defence and he fed Chadwick who sent out a beautiful long pass to winger Christian Taylor who scored in the right corner and then right on the stroke of half time quick hands out wide by Rovers paved the way for loose forward Chris Mellor to score in the right corner and give his side a deserved 22-4 interval advantage.
Thirteen minutes into the second half a handling error by Culcheth gave Rovers a ‘free play’ and that enabled them to move close to the Eagles line and a quick play the ball enabled second row Paul Alcock to score wide out on the left. O’Brien landed the conversion and then ten minutes later Rovers stand off Billy Maunder found Alcock who dummied his way back inside and found Whiteley who scored on the right. O’Brien tagged on the extras.
Ten minutes from time Culcheth grabbed a consolation try when hooker Adam Rainford scored in the left corner. Winger Chris Pleavin added a fine conversion from the touchline but it was too little too late as Rovers celebrated a fine 34-10 success.
The Man of the Match was awarded to Rovers full back Will Chadwick. He was very well supported by prop forward Wez Lawton, hooker Scott Whiteley and loose forward Chris Mellor. Best for Culcheth were scrum half Ian Pirrie, hooker Adam Rainford, loose forward Ross Pendlebury and second row Stuart Johnson.
After the game Rovers Head Coach Mike Grady said: “We are absolutely delighted to have won the trophy. We knew that we would have to perform well to get the win and we certainly did that. I thought our composure in both attack and defence was really good and that set the platform for what turned out to be a comfortable victory. All seventeen players deserve great credit for the way they played; they all stuck to the gameplan and got their just rewards in the end. Culcheth certainly played their part in what was a good game played in a very sporting manner.”
Coach Chris Ball added: “It was really pleasing to be involved in such a good all-round team effort. We started off at a very high intensity and that enabled us to build a healthy lead early on and the way we then controlled the rest of the game meant that Culcheth were restricted to very few chances. I am so happy for everybody involved at the club. Hopefully both of our teams can now look forward to a successful end to the season and then we can kick on even further next year.”
EAGLES
Chris Moses, Danny Malma, Ryan Parkinson, Stuart Pirrie, Chris Pleavin, Damon Fishwick, Ian Pirrie, Chris Nestor, Adam Rainford, Andy Thomason, Jim Tunstall, Stuart Johnson, Ross Pendlebury.
Subs: Alistair Peters, Adam Cooper, Tom Hamer, Paul Green.
ROVERS
Will Chadwick, Tom Keevil, Mike Stout, Ryan Jones, Christian Taylor, Billy Maunder, Daniel O’Brien, Andy Addison, Scott Whiteley, Wez Lawton, Paul Alcock, Sean Conway, Chris Mellor.
Subs: Martin Ball, Ryan Cosgrove, James Dudley, Johnny Wilson.
Referee: Matthew Thomason
Touch Judges: Nick Woodward and Graeme Chicken
