Seniors
Matches
Sat 31 Jan 2015
Royal Navy Rugby League
Seniors
32
14
Saddleworth Rangers
Ladbrokes Challenge Cup 1st Round

Ladbrokes Challenge Cup 1st Round

Keith Humpleby1 Feb 2015 - 14:27
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Brothers into 2nd Round

The early exchanges of the match saw the home side pressure the Saddleworth defence and this pressure was rewarded when, after Ben Whitehead’s attempted clearing kick was charged down the Navy shifted the ball Right and Buinimasi’s pass found fellow Fijian Tu Roko who finished well in the corner, Ryan Mathews was off target with the conversion attempt. The RN extended their lead after 14 minutes with a brilliant piece of individual play, loose forward Tommy Wilkinson took the ball from the base of the scrum and beat the defence to win a 90 metre race to the line and cross under the posts and with Matthews nailing the kick the home side were up 10-0.
Saddleworth began to get on terms with the home side taking the game to the Navy with the main threat coming from midfield. This threat drew the RN defence infield and after 22 minutes Josh Bradbury made the initial inroad before ball went left and Jack Bradbury provided a killer pass for Danny Bowker to get in at the corner. Josh Bradbury's conversion was waved away but Rangers were back in it and only 6 points behind
The Navy took full advantage of a penalty and the Fijian right wing pairing finished off a good move with Buinimasi again finding Tu Roko who touched own, the conversion was missed but the RN were back to ten ahead at 14-4. This proved to be the last score of an entertaining with the two sides playing contrasting styles of football but still getting the results.
Rangers took the initiative after the break making the most of an error in the RN defence which gave them a repeat set and scrum half Josh Bradbury sneaked over from dummy half and with Ben Whitehead adding the conversion Rangers were only four points behind at 14-10
The see saw nature of the game continued this time The home side took advantage when Jack Holden fumbled a kick through and Lewis Cooper was on hand to touch down, Ryan Mathews added the goal and the Navy were up by 20-10. More pressure from the RN was rewarded when Sadleworth skipper Ethan Langhorn fumbled a kick through, the ball rebounded off the post into the arms of Kev Botwood who touched down to the right of the posts, again Mathews converted to give the Navy a 26-10 lead and Rangers had a mountain to climb as the game entered the last quarter.
If the RN thought it was all over they were in for a shock, Rangers didn't give up and with 14 minutes left Tom Robinson met a Craig Farrimond pass at speed to get his way through the Navy defence although Whitehead’s conversion hit the posts Rangers were now only 12 points behind with an outside chance of forcing Golden Point.
The RN sensed the day was theirs and pushed hard for another score, taking full advantage of a scrum awarded after another Rangers error. Tommy Wilkinson once again took on the visitors defence and gave Roko the pass that allowed him room to cross for his hat trick score 30-10. Ryan Matthews then kicked a superb conversion from the touchline into the gusty wind to virtually seal the victory for the home side. Try as hard as they could the Saddleworth side could not breach the Navy defence and it's the servicemen who move onto the second round in a fortnight's time.

The match officials awarded the MoM to RN replacement back Todd Crofts who was influential throughout both in attack and defence

Royal Navy:
Tries: Roko (5, 27, 69), Wilkinson (14), Cooper (49), Botwood (62)
Goals: Mathews 3/5

Saddleworth Rangers
Tries: Bowker (22) Josh Bradbury (33), Robinson (66)
Goals: Whitehead ½

Royal Navy Saddleworth Rangers
Steve Riley 1 Ethan Langhorn (C)
Mike Haldenby 2 Danny Bowker
Tom Loxam 3 James Whalley
Silivenusi Buinimasi 4 Jack Holden
Tu Rocko 5 Danny Attersall
Kev Botwood (V Cap) 6 Ben Whitehead
Ryan Mathews 7 Josh Bradbury
James Shaw 8 Tom Dransfield
Mark Robinson (Capt) 9 Craig Farrimond
Ritchie Metcalfe 10 Gareth Morgan
Ben Taylor 11 Tom Robinson
Andy Parrott 12 Jack Connor
Tommy Wilkinson 13 Jack Bradbury
Interchanges:
Lewis Taylor 14 Liam Hall
Tom Marchant 15 Matt Bottom
Todd Crofts 16 Chris Yarwood
Lewis Cooper 17 Adam Jeffrey
Coach: Steve Lockton Coach: Craig Farrimond

Match details

Match date

Sat 31 Jan 2015

Kickoff

14:00
Team overview
Further reading

Team Sponsors

Hydration Partner - iPro Hydrate
Club Sponsor - Forces Mutual
Club Sponsor - Fujitsu
State Of Origin Sponsor - QinetiQ
Club Sponsor - Royal British Leigon
Main Sponsor - NAAFI
Club Sponsor - Juniper Networks
Club Sponsor - The APCL Group