Preston Grasshoppers warm up for weekend’s 150th anniversary tournament with Lancs Cup win over Blackburn

Preston Grasshoppers, the most senior club in this year’s Lancashire Cup, had to stage a second-half fightback at Lightfoot Green to knock out holders Blackburn 26-18 and progress to the semi-finals.
By The Newsroom
Published 29th Aug 2019, 16:47 BST
Updated 29th Aug 2019, 17:47 BST
Action from the win against Blackburn (photo: Mike Craig)Action from the win against Blackburn (photo: Mike Craig)
Action from the win against Blackburn (photo: Mike Craig)

A try by Sam Stott, converted by Alex Hurst, provided the hosts’ only points of a first half which they ended trailing 18-7.

But that was the end of Blackburn’s scoring and Hoppers took the spoils with further tries by James Fitzpatrick and Matt Lamprey, who scored twice.

Hurst added two more conversions.

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This weekend, Hoppers host an international tournament to mark the 150th anniversary of the club.

L&M Healthcare are the main sponsor for the event, and the company are 
currently building their latest residential home on the 
land that was formerly the car park in front of the Hoppers’ clubhouse.

The tournament, which gets under way at 10.30am on Saturday at Lightfoot Green will consist of teams from Formia (Italy), Dendermonde (Belgium) plus the Preston twin town team from Almelo (Holland).

Local sides Blackburn, Thornton Cleveleys and Broughton (Salford), who are also celebrating their 150th anniversary, are all taking part along with hosts Preston Grasshoppers.

A Women’s team from St Louis, Missouri, USA are travelling over and will be playing games on both the Saturday against Preston Grasshoppers Women and on Sunday a Sally Watson Memorial side.

Related topics:Blackburn