Leyland Warriors came out on top in the eagerly awaited Under-13s South Ribble derby match against Bamber Bridge Bulldogs.
As expected, there was some strong tackling from both teams early on, 
before Leyland began to dominate both position and possession.
James O’Neill showed great footwork to score before Will Douglas powered over, both from close range.
Then Rob Stack ran a great inside line to score from 30 metres.
Douglas then scored the best try of the half, breaking the defensive line deep in his own half before showing great speed to race under the posts, with Joe Weston adding three conversions.
Leyland continued to move the ball well in the second half with further scores from Nathan Burns, Joe Kirkby and Douglas completed his hat-trick.
All of the players worked tirelessly in defence and despite several breaks from the Bulldogs, the back 
three of Dan Wilkins, Michael Stack and Matthew 
Grayston snuffed out the danger.
A superb team performance saw a final score of 34-0, with Grayston earning the man of the match award.
Warriors Under-12s played host to Westhoughton Lions and scored some great tries to run out 36-12 winners in an entertaining game.
Miles Hemmings (2), Matthew Wilkins, Henry Aspey, Will Sharples and Jordan Ronson were the try scorers.
Leyland’s Under-11s travelled to Rochdale Mayfield and the hosts were first to score, building a lead that they didn’t relinquish despite Warriors’ best efforts.
Warriors’ only highlight of the first half was when Fletcher Turner showed great power to score, diving over the line, Luke Robinson with the conversion.
In the second half Leyland’s defence was a lot better and they got their reward when Turner showed neat footwork for his second try, which he also converted.
Kian McKay powered his way over the line and he too converted his own try, leaving a final score of 24-18 to Rochdale.
The Warriors Under-8s played at a well-drilled Leigh East and the first half was evenly matched.
Matthew Quinn scored three excellent tries, with Kieran Donaghy rounding off an excellent first half, bursting through with a try of his 
own.
As much as they tried, Leigh couldn’t get a stranglehold on the game thanks to some tremendous defending by James Broadfield, who threw himself at the Leigh attack time and time again.
In the second half, Leigh exploited some gaps in the Leyland defence with a couple of easy tries which led to a flattering score line.
Nevertheless, Leyland will take great heart from this result, particularly as they began to start passing the ball along the line more, exposing gaps in the opposition defence.
Man of the Match was jointly awarded to Mathew Quinn for his hat-trick and to James Broadfield for setting up all four tries.
Leyland Warriors are a Clubmark Gold-accredited club, who welcome all new players aged four and above.
For more information, visit www.leylandwarriors.co.uk.
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