A great start to the centenary season for the Under 13s as we took on Lindley Swifts at home on Saturday.

Having struggled for players all of last season it was fantastic to be able to name a full 17 on the teamsheet and they did us proud by running out 26-10 winners. New boys Luke Nicholls, Thomas Leaver, Will Dobson, Joshua Hayward and Joshua Smith have slotted straight into the squad and looked like veterans!

The first half started slowly with a lot of errors on both sides and Lindley scored first, but missed the conversion. Then a mistake against the run of play gifted Nicholls the ball and he ran the full length of the pitch to even up the score, with Tom Hayes narrowly missing a conversion into the wind.

Half-time came and went with Lindley having the lion’s share of the game, but solid defence meant they couldn’t turn their pressure into points and in the second half it was Rangers who scored first, Nicholls going over with Hayes’ conversion attempt adding two further points to give Rangers the lead. A scuffle between two players saw Stanley reduced to 12 men and Lindley crashed through under the posts shortly after, converting to bring the game back level, but Hayes collected a misplaced pass from his own kick off and put Rangers back in front with his trademark turn of pace.  Rowan Keenan was unlucky to miss his conversion but Rangers took charge for the rest of the second half with two further tries from Nicholls and Hayes finding his kicking boots to add the extras.

Coaches’ and Players’ Man of the Match was Thomas Leaver, with Heywood picking up Man of Steel. Great team spirit and a deserved victory takes us into next Saturday with our heads held high.

Match report sent in by Kath Hayes.