Leyland Warriors’ season got off to a good start with a 32-20 home triumph over Oldham St Annes.
Warriors started brightly, moving the ball well and a good shift saw Phil Campbell go close in the corner on the last tackle.
Leyland then kept Oldham pinned inside their half with some strong defence and Scott Low’s pass found James Green hitting a hole to score from close range, with Mark Quinn converting.
And when a loose pass hit the floor, Quinn reacted first, scooping up the ball and racing under the posts unchallenged, before adding the conversion.
Warriors extended the lead when they forced a drop-out after a great break by Ollie Austin, with Billy Saundry showing some neat footwork to score. Quinn converted again for an 18-0 half-time score.
Oldham scored the first try of the second period, before John Boles made a break, running a good line off Tom Worrall’s inside pass.
On the back of this, Quinn pounced on Dan Armstrong’s grubber kick to restore the 18-point lead.
St Annes then had a purple patch with three unanswered tries in 15 minutes to make the score a nail biting 22-20 to Warriors.
But there was no panic in the Leyland ranks as they maintained their composure and got back to basics. Some good approach play took them to within sight of the try line and Jonny Tuson crashed onto the short ball to drag a couple of defenders over the line, with Quinn adding the extras.
Strong carries from Paul Lorenzen and Pete Heatley made big yards into Oldham territory before Leyland put a big left-to-right shift on for Campbell to dive over in the corner to complete a comfortable victory.
Warriors Under-14s went down to a 20-10 home defeat to Orrell St James.
Leyland paid the price for a slow start to the game, a lack of fluency in attack and the previous week’s strong defence nowhere in sight.
Orrell capitalised on this with their big second rower scoring a hat-trick to give the visitors a 14-0 half-time lead.
The Warriors got themselves back into the game in the second half. On the back of some quick play, Rory Brand made a break from half-way and showed a great turn of pace to score under the posts, converting his own try.
Then Brand squeezed his way over for his second try and Matt Clegg and Cory Bennie both went agonisingly close.
Other scores: Leyland Warriors Under-13s 24 Bamber Bridge Bulldogs 8; Warriors Under-11s 42 Orrell St James 48; Warriors Under-8s 0 Ince Rose Bridge 30.
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