Rugby Union
Winger gets his Phil in Bolton victory
WINGER Phil Caswell ran in six tries as Bolton romped to a 91-7 victory against a Blackpool side who have not won all season and are destined for relegation.
The visitors set the tone for the match with a try in the opening five minutes from fly-half Danny Joseph, who ran through a gaping whole in the Blackpool defence to score under the posts for the first of his two scores.
Despite the obvious difference in class between the two North Lancashire Division One sides, Bolton had to earn their tries, which came thick and fast.
JP Singleton scored a hat-trick. Other try scorers included Alex Sugden, Steve Knibb and Dave Evans.
The seasiders did manage to stem the tide for a short period in the first half, scoring a try of their own, but they were never in the match and Bolton led 45-7 at half-time.
Some slick hands and impressive interplay were the hallmarks of a dominant second-half performance from the cherry and whites, who ran riot against a side clearly low on confidence.
The pick of the second half tries saw Bolton run a training ground move in the backline, which split the home side's defence wide open, allowing Mike Singleton to pass to Caswell who raced in under the posts to complete the scoring.
The seconds were beaten 8-7 in a tight contest with Ormskirk at Avenue Street.
O'Donohoe scored Bolton's only try of the game, and Barlow slotted over the conversion.
From then on, the game was nip and tuck, with the only other score in the half coming from an Ormskirk drop-kick penalty from under the posts.
Hurst touched down in the corner for a disputed try in the second half to edge Ormskirk into a lead they never surrendered.
The third team fared better, defeating Kirkby Lonsdale 22-17 to continue an unbeaten run stretching back to November.
A loss for either side would have effectively ended their promotion aspirations, and this was a lot more evident in a nervy Bolton side who conceded an early converted try and penalty.
Bolton rallied and, following a superb rolling maul which started just outside their opponent's 22, was converted into a try for Jim Ramsell. Guy Lovgreen missed the conversion. Bolton then camped in the Kirkby 22 and pressed home their territorial advantage with tries for Shaun Crimmins and a second for Ramsell. Lovgreen converted this time.
Kirkby rallied, despite the game being moved onto another pitch in the second half after an injury to one of their players, and Bolton faced a uphill battle.
But, with the best defence in the league, Bolton would not be put off and sealed their victory with a penalty from Lovgreen, though there was still time for Kirkby to grab a last-minute consolation.
The fourths suffered a disappointing 14-5 defeat at home to high-flying Thornton Cleveleys.
Despite taking an early lead and maintaining it through 20 minutes of the second half, Bolton allowed Thornton to hit back with two late tries.
The Colts also lost out, going down 5-3 in a nail-biter against Fleetwood in their penultimate league game of the season.
But there was better news for the under-14s, who overcame Blackburn 5-3 in their first home game since the end of November.
Bolton were forced to defend in the first half and their cause was not helped by the loss of Marcus Stuchbury with a broken hand midway through the half.
Sam Garrett made a try-saving tackle to deny Blackburn, but the deadlock was finally broken on the stroke of half time when Bolton conceded a penalty under posts and the visitors slotted it over to go in 3-0 up.
Bolton were much better after the break and, spurred on by man-of-the-match Josh Kay, they got their reward six minutes after the restart when Yousuf Sidat burst over for an unconverted try.
4:50pm Tuesday 19th February 2008
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