Blackbrook ARLFC hosted the recent North West Men’s League Finals with three new champions confirmed after a thrilling day of action.
Steeped in Rugby League history, Blackbrook can boast St Helens head coach, Paul Wellens, and the Betfred Super League’s record appearance maker, James Roby, as former players but this time it was the Community Game’s time to shine.
First up was the Alliance Cup and after emphatically despatching Leigh Miners Rangers A in the semi-final, Ince Rose Bridge A set up a tie with Thatto Heath Crusaders A, who themselves saw off opposition from Leigh in the shape of Leigh East A.
As the rain poured down, Kieran Malone broke the deadlock for Ince Rose Bridge with a dummy-half scoot and the conversion from Danny Rigby made it 6-0 to the Wigan side, who maintained their lead going into halftime. As the second half got underway, an injury to Thatto’s fullback, Alex Bacon, meant a 20-minute stoppage and as play got back underway a penalty gave Rigby the chance to increase Ince’s lead to 8-0.
It wasn’t long before Thatto Heath responded when a wonderful Gabriel Parker offload made it into the hands of Marc Lomas who went in from close range to score his team’s first try of the game. The subsequent conversion made it 8-6 going into the final ten minutes with both teams looking for the win. Whilst the Crusaders peppered the opposition defence, they couldn’t find the crucial score, and were eventually punished when Harry Penny bounced off three tackles and clinched the win for the Wigan side with a try next to the posts. Rigby converted and went on to score a drop goal in the final seconds to make it 15-6 and confirm Ince Rose Bridge as the home of the Alliance Cup.
Bank Quay Bulls and Higginshaw were next to take to the field in the NWML Trophy Final in what was a scrappy affair.
The first try of the game was arguably the score of the day - just as Higginshaw’s Kiel Lancashire was about to lose possession, the scrum-half pulled off a brilliant chip of the ball to Jordan Turner in the left hand corner who then prodded the ball back inside past an onrushing Bank Quay defender and pounced on his own kick to open the scoring.
The Bulls didn’t wait too long to hit back with Aaron Barber taking charge from the hooker position to force his way over the try line to draw his team level. Further scores from Ashley Hickman at the end of the first half and Torn early in the second cemented the Bulls’ lead at 16-4. The sinbinning of Bulls’ Callum Cragg appeared to inspire a late comeback from Higginshaw and two quick-fire responses from Joe Charnock and Nathan Ager edged the score 16-14 with ten minutes to go. The drama came to close with five minutes left on the clock when Alex Green side-stepped a defender to score the winning try with Bank Quay Bills named champions after a 22-16 victory.
Taking centre stage for the third and final match of the day were Ashton Bears and Halton Farnworth Hornets in the NWML Cup.
Ashton barely made it out of their own half in the first 40 minutes with Halton’s Jamie Patient squeezing in at the corner flag to score the first try of the game. Patient’s score would be the only significant action of a tight and tense first half with an Andrew Clarke penalty making it 6-0 to the Hornets at half-time. A slippery ball and howling winds led to a slew of handling errors but Ashton finally got on the board in the second half after Tom Hopkins finished off a sweeping move started by Chris Rothwell. Hopkins was in the thick of the action again not long after as wasted a try-scoring opportunity, dropping the ball with the try line at his mercy. The two sides exchanged possession opportunities until Player of the Match Clarke sealed the 8-4 win for the Hornets with an expertly taken penalty.
All of the action from Finals Day at Blackbrook is available to watch on demand on Our League.
