Woolston Rovers started their 2018 Kingstone Press National Conference League Division Three campaign with a hard fought victory over Salford City Roosters on Saturday afternoon at The Sadore Construction Field, Monks Sports Club.
Rovers opened the scoring in the tenth minute when quick hands saw the ball reach stand off Theo Holt and he put centre Lewis Hoarty through a gap to score wide out on the right but then despite Rovers dominating territorially some poor handling meant that they were not able to build on the lead and had to settle for a narrow 4-0 half time advantage.
The home side came out with a lot more purpose after the break and two minutes into the second half a swift handling movement that started on the right saw the ball reach centre Aaron Barber and he managed to find winger Will Chadwick who squeezed over in the left corner and then three minutes later a high kick to the corner by scrum half Conner Muir was collected superbly by Chadwick and he somehow flipped the ball to second row Nick Braide who scored wide out on the left. Full back Glyn Roberts landed the conversion.
Just after the hour mark Salford got themselves back into the game when a high kick from scrum half Paul Morgan was fumbled by Rovers and second row Tom Pratt was quickest to react to pounce on the loose ball and score under the posts. Morgan converted but almost immediately Rovers responded when Roberts collected a high kick on his own line and broke away before sending Muir on a sixty metre dash down the left wing; a couple of quick play the balls saw the Roosters defence stretched and Hoarty put winger Justin Becker over wide out on the right to complete a thoroughly deserved 18-6 win.
The Man of the Match was awarded to Rovers stand off Theo Holt. He was very well supported by winger Will Chadwick, second row pair Nick Braide and Matt Clarke along with prop forward Jack Sherratt.
After the game Rovers Head Coach John Fieldhouse said, “I am extremely happy to start the season off with a win, unlike last year where we struggled early on. The victory was built on an outstanding defensive display by every player. Salford only managed their solitary try through an error by us from a high bomb so the work on our ‘D’ has paid off immediately and it was certainly needed as our completion rate was very poor at only 38%; you won’t win many games if you make that many handling errors. Some poor judgement on the final pass saw us spurn six clear try scoring opportunities including four times when the referee pulled us up correctly for forward passes. We will work on this aspect in training this week and I have no doubt that we will improve next weekend.”
ROVERS
Glyn Roberts, Justin Becker, Aaron Barber, Lewis Hoarty, Will Chadwick, Theo Holt, Conner Muir, Jack Sherratt, Ryan Brown, Ryan Hickman, Nick Braide, Matt Clarke Harry Files.
Subs: Anthony Clayton, Sam Roberts, Dan Fearnley, Anthony Braide
