Lancashire have one foot in final at Twickenham
LANCASHIRE 38 YORKSHIRE 18 Dominant Lancashire gave themselves a handy 20-point cushion for next Saturday’s second leg of the Roses battle to reach the final of the Bill Beaumont County Championship.
Taking the lead after just four minutes, they fell behind a couple of times but went on to a comfortable victory at Fylde.
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Preston Grasshoppers centre Sammy Russell said: “When Lancashire rugby’s flowing like that, no one can beat us. We fronted up really well and if we play like that next week at Hull, Twickenham is on.”
The Red Rose started the ball rolling by turning over Yorkshire possession in their own half and putting Fylde’s Leo Gilliland over after a flowing attack.
Will Baker replied with a penalty and Ben Stephenson scored from a line-out drive. But the hosts responded in kind, lively hooker Jack Elam getting the touchdown.
A lost Lancashire line-out gave the White Rose the foothold for a try by Noah Cowan, but the rest of the scoring was all by the home side until the dying minutes.
Hoppers full-back Sam Freeman created a try for flanker Isaac Deans, then added an even better solo score of his own to crown an impressive performance.
Skipper Chris Johnson converted both and also added the extras after tries by scrum-half Matt Sturgess, from a tap penalty, and prop Danny Rylance from close range.
Yorkshire gave themselves slightly better hope for the return leg, with a stoppage-time try from winger James Norman, although there was a strong suspicion of a forward pass in the build-up.
Nevertheless, the Lancashire management team were unanimous that they would have settled for a 20-point margin before the kick-off.
LANCASHIRE: Freeman; Dorrington, Russell, Clayton, Gilliland; Johnson, Sturgess; Bowker, Ellam, Rylance, Garrod, Walton, Deans, Kasam-Sharples, Ailes. Reps: Deeks, Kyle-Clay, Birchall, Castle, Rawlings, Williams, Browne, Gould.