BOLTON Under-18s went down 37-17 to Widnes in the final of the Senior Colts Lancashire Cup.

It was an outstanding effort by the senior colts to reach the final but lifting the county cup in their last game as juniors proved a step too far.

The challenge was always going to be a daunting one with Widnes having won their league and the Lancashire Cup on several occasions in recent years and also having the advantage of playing at home.

And so it eventually proved, although Bolton did themselves proud, certainly in the first half in which they led 10-0 until Widnes pulled it back to go into half time 12-10 ahead.

With Bolton’s defence immense at the start and Jordan Ashton imperious in the lineouts a confident Bolton took the lead when Charlie Hardern dived over in the corner.

The angle and wind were against Chris Brownlow converting.

With Charlie Aylett and Ryan McClusky on top in the forwards and Harry Stocks, Joe Speakman in charge at half-back, centres Chris Brownlow and Joe Speakman having the upper hand in midfield and Josh Holmes making some good runs from full-back Bolton made some telling breaks.

Bolton quickly doubled their advantage with Josh Holmes scoring.

Bolton looked the better side and had the home side rocking. Matt Chowdhury, Connor Orrell and George Carbery were effective in the front row and a stolen scrum again put Bolton on the front foot.

Ryan McClusky broke and raced down the wing, drew the full-back and put Joe Speakman under the posts only for the referee to deem the pass forward.

Bolton had a second score cancelled out and it seemed to spur the home side on and they scored a converted try from a scrum to bring them back into the contest 10-7. With the home crowd firmly behind them Widnes scored again to finish the half12-10 ahead.

Bolton’s coaches Jonathan Hill, Gareth Stocks and JP Hardman shuffled their pack at the half with Jacob Walker entering the fray to replace George Carbery, who had given everything in the first period, and Joel Thompson replacing Matt Chowdhury.

Out wide the semi-final match-winner Sam Smith was replaced by Joey Gore.

Widnes started the second period with their tails up and with Bolton infringing on too many occasions extended the lead to 18-10 with a couple of penalties.

Having tackled himself to a standstill George Weston left the field and Chris Brownlow moved into the pack with Tom Hill tacking over at centre.

Bolton had been starved of possession for more than 30 minutes and Widnes extended their lead further to 25-10 with a third try.

Bolton hit back with a magnificent try. Josh Holmes found himself in some space, accelerated through the first line of defence, jinked left and right and with the aid of a perfect hand off and another acceleration burst through and dotted down under the posts. Chris Brownlow added the extras and it was game on again at 25-17.

Unfortunately it just was not to be and despite Bolton putting everything on the line and subs Adam Kazmi, Johnny Wallis and Harry Kay adding both fresh legs Widnes rounded off the game with two further scores.

Bolton U13s produced a double trophy haul when they beat all-comers at the Sale Sharks tournament at Eccles over the weekend.

They took on teams from the Midlands and Scotland in a 15-a-side round-robin on Saturday and a sevens tournament on Sunday.

Long range tries from Seb Donnelly, Sean Carragher and try machine Myles Garth put Bolton in command in Saturday's first game against Nottingham.

Garth finished with a hat-trick Donnelly and Carragher scored two each and Jake Rimmer, Josh Padmore, Tom Simpson, and Joel Matthews got one each.

Big centre Donnelly scored another hat-trick on his sevens debut the following day as Bolton beat Scotland followed by a 10-try rout of Nottingham which included three tries for Matthews, two each for flying prop Oliver McKeown, Donnelly and Carragher and one for scrum-half Tom Platt.