SHORT-HANDED Bolton played the generation game at Broughton Park on Saturday when father and son – Mark and Louis Townsend – played alongside each other.

To comply with RFU safety rules, the Cherry and Whites, who were without seven first-teamers, needed a registered player over the age of 18 capable of playing in the front row. And the only one available was 49-year-old veteran hooker Mark – a former Avenue Street player, who last pulled on his boots last season.

Coincidentally, on the day Mark answered the club’s SOS and took his place on the replacements’ bench, his 17-year-old son Louis made his first start for the first XV at flanker – and after just 20 minutes both father and son were united on the pitch in the Bolton cause.

Bolton senior chairman Jon-Paul Hardman said: “Mark had been Louis’s coach in his days with the Bolton junior teams when he progressed from the age of 13 to the senior colts – but a father and son playing combination at National Level Six rugby is most unusual.”

Unfortunately the Townsends were on the losing side as Bolton, who went into the game on the back of a winning run that had pushed them towards mid-table in the North One West table, went down 52-5.

Bolton made a determined start with strong running from Nick Smith in the centre. However, they were immediately put on the back foot when a missed touch kick from a penalty led to Broughton keeping the ball alive.

Bolton's chase was disorganised in its nature and the Broughton winger carved through the defence to record the first of his four scores for the day.

Struggling in both the scrum and line-out, where they had been organised and powerful in the previous week’s victory over Widnes, Bolton failed to secure any platform off which to work.

Despite the best efforts of Louis Critchlow and skipper Ash Cooper they could not get started and Broughton, who had lost their previous five games, ramped up the pressure to open up a 20-point lead.

Head coach Nick Holmes made a number of changes to try to stem the tide. Mark Townsend entered the fray.

Mike Mills worked tirelessly at fly half and provided good ball to Rhys Pritchard to try and break the Broughton line, whilst Spencer Pettitt was released to make 80 yards down the ground only to be forced into touch yards from the Broughton line.

The back row made telling tackles and turnovers across the park and Bolton finished the first half in much better form than the 27-0 scoreline suggested.

Bolton, who expect to have their missing players back when they travel to mid-table Warrington on Saturday, gave the home side a torrid time in the scrum in the opening exchanges of the second half and Broughton were lucky to survive a penalty try call as they collapsed twice on their own line.

But Bolton would not be denied and veteran prop Gareth Evans ghosted down the blind side to score what proved their only try of the game.

Bolton sensed this was a turning point but despite the home team being weakened by a couple of sin-bins, they could not find a way back into the match.

Restored to 15, Broughton then ruthlessly exploited a tiring Bolton rearguard to cross the line five more times.