BOLTON Under-16s ground out a hard-fought 19-0 victory over Rossendale in the quarter-final of the Lancashire plate.

Played in muddy conditions with rain falling heavily throughout the conditions at Avenue Street were far from perfect.

But the match would have been decided by the toss of a coin had it not gone ahead and neither side wanted that.

Bolton started brighter and the forward pack played the simple game, taking the ball straight and recycling.

It was not long before the first of many dropped balls and scrums took place.

Both teams were contesting the rucks and struggled with the conditions, but it was Bolton who made the breakthrough with captain Alex Tonge's explosive power and pace breaking through Rossendale tackles to score under the posts.

Issac Woods converted to give Bolton a 7-0 lead at half time.

The referee and coaches decided to carry on with the game with the pitch muddy but just about playable.

The second half saw plenty of invention by Bolton with number 10 Jimmy Holland kicking the ball over for the wingers to chase, but the conditions were deteriorating again and even the simplest of backs moves were fraught with danger.

Bolton played deep into the Rossendale 22 and forced the visitors to carry the ball over their own line, giving Bolton an attacking five-metre scrum from which Harry Round, at eight, crashed over for the second Bolton try.

Rossendale started to get a foothold in the game by kicking and chasing, Bolton wingers having to put the ball out for a Rossendale line-out in Bolton's 22.

Rossendale decided to have a short line-out but overthrew the ball, Tonge catching and bursting through the Rossendale defence with supreme pace to score under the posts and secure the victory, Woods converting.

Bolton U13s also braved the muddy Avenue Street conditions but went down 6-1 to a strong Manchester side.

Bolton responded to the try by equalising through Oliver Keogh who ran onto his own kick to touch over.

Levi Waite and Sam Atherton can both look back on good individual performance but Manchester succeeded in shutting down top scorer Leon Hodson effectively.