Match Reports from all three of the North West Men’s League (NWML) Cup Finals, which took place on Saturday (13 July) at Orrell St James...
North West Men’s League Cup Final: Orrell St James 6 Haresfinch 16
24 hours after Wigan Warriors won an enthralling contest with fierce rivals St Helens in the Betfred Super League, it was Wigan versus St Helens again in the North West Men’s League Cup Final – and this time around the St Helens side came out on top.
Orrell got off to a dream start, Jack McHugh scooping up a loose ball as a Haresfinch attack broke down and showed a clean pair of heels before passing it on to the supporting Lewis Round who finished off underneath the Haresfinch sticks.
Sean Findlow added the conversion to get the scoreboard ticking in Orrell’s favour at 6-0.
Both sides traded sets and penalties throughout the first half before Haresfinch finally got on the board on the stroke of half-time, Matty Norton punishing the host’s ill-discipline on their own line and Josh Ainsworth drew the scores level at 6-6 going into half-time.
The second 40 minutes was a show of Haresfinch’s dominance as they restricted Orrell to very few opportunities. A succession of converted penalties, shared by Ainsworth and Danny Lynch, was followed up by a cute round-the-corner pass from Matty Ross to Norton who scored the try and gave his side an unassailable lead.
Ainsworth added the conversion in the last real action of the match and Haresfinch saw the game out for a dominant 16-6 win to round off an entertaining day of free-flowing, full-blooded Rugby League.
North West Men’s League Shield Final: Folly Lane A 12 Haydock Warriors 14
The day-long festival of Rugby league had earlier kicked off with the Shield Final, won by Haydock in golden point extra time.
It was Haydock who started the brightest with Rob Sexton pulling the strings in the early phase of the match. The stand-off’s tactic of chipping the ball to the left corner and forcing Folly Lane’s Ben Campbell-Williams to run the ball back eventually paid dividends as the Warriors opened the scoring after 20 minutes.
Pressure on the Folly Lane try line resulted in a 3-on-1 overlap on the left, Danny Gee dummied and crashed over himself for the first try of the game. Haydock almost doubled the lead as Sexton put another chip into the left corner, but the ball just skipped away from Rob Anders to spare Folly’s blushes.
It took 33 minutes for Folly Lane to force a repeat set on Haydock’s line – the introduction of substitute Dean Critchley transformed the fortunes of the Swinton side as they wrestled momentum back from the Warriors to register their first score. Plenty of offloads and switches of play later and winger Luke Russell touched down in the corner, despite pressure from three Haydock defenders.
With just seconds left to play in the first half, Folly scrum-half Craig Shenton took advantage of a penalty just metres away from the Haydock line and switched it left to the short side for Niall Shaler to score. Dan Jenkinson failed to convert either score, which would ultimately prove costly.
Folly Lane’s momentum continued into the second half as Haddock’s discipline completely abandoned them – their scramble defence, however, continued to be heroic. Tempers increased even further as the Warriors’ Andrew Bacon was sent to the sin bin for leading with his elbow.
In the final quarter of the game, the penalty count skyrocketed as both teams struggled to keep their cool. Russell scored his second try of the game to put Folly Lane 12-6 up, but Jenkinson, once again, couldn’t add the extra two points.
After Jenkinson sliced a drop goal attempt wide, Folly Lane had Haydock pinned on their own line with just seconds remaining. The Warriors, however, were not finished yet as their defence gifted them a 7-tackle set. They marched up the pitch and on the last tackle, Anders finished in the left corner to give Sexton the chance to send the game into golden point territory.
Sexton made no mistake and levelled the match at 12-12, but wasn’t quite finished there. The Folly Lane defence scrambled desperately to block not one but two drop goal attempts from the Haydock stand-off to force extra time.
Just two minutes into the first half of extra time, pushing and shoving in the ruck led to a Haydock penalty on the right touchline in front of the travelling Yickers. Sexton’s kick was successful and was the fittingly dramatic conclusion to a tense, full-blooded encounter.
North West Men’s League Trophy: Bank Quay Bulls 22 Rochdale Mayfield A 18
Eager to take the field following a slightly delayed kick-off due to the drama of the Shield final were Bank Quay Bulls and Rochdale Mayfield A, who were contesting the Trophy final. Bank Quay were looking to make it back-to-back Trophy wins and got off to the perfect start as a switch of play from Rochdale was intercepted by the Bulls’ Ash Hickman who sprinted over 80 metres to score the first try of the game.
Things went from bad to worse for Rochdale as a yellow card for loose forward Jack Green for a tip tackle was soon followed by another Bank Quay score. The Bulls forced a mistake on the Rochdale line, Hickman pounced on the drop ball and went in uncontested to double his side’s lead - Mayfield contributing to their own downfall.
Their fortunes changed, however, in the 36th minute as Bank Quay were reduced to 12 men. Centre Liam Quinn was sent off for a needless slap to the face of a Rochdale player, and his team were punished almost immediately as Chris Fleming went in unchallenged to get his side on the board. Billy Myers added a penalty for Bank Quay with the last action of the first half to stretch his side’s lead to 14-6.
Rochdale looked to make the numerical advantage pay almost immediately at the start of the second half as winger Owen Webster squeezed in at the corner, only for the touch judge’s flag to go up. A foot in touch was the ruling.
Despite the disparity in numbers, Bank Quay wrestled back momentum from their opponents and continued to add to their lead thanks to a converted try from Dylan Alcock and a penalty from Myers. The score now 22-6 with less than 10 minutes to go.
Rochdale, however, were not down and out. Jack McConachie produced magnificent solo effort to breach Bank Quay’s left edge and Webster finally got his name on the scoresheet. Nathan Coop successfully converted both scores to make it a one-score game, but Bank Quay held on resolutely for a 22-18 win and their second consecutive NWML Trophy triumph.
