It was Grand Final weekend in the North West Men’s League as Thatto Heath Crusaders played host to the spectacular two-day event.
The biggest story going into finals weekend was Haresfinch and the club’s attempts to follow up their NWML Cup triumph with a Premier Division title win, all while completing their season with a 100% record. Their opponents were Orrell St James in a repeat of that cup final in July that ended 16-6.
It was a nip-and-tuck first-half with both teams cancelling each other out and displaying the quality that got them to the final. The breakthrough eventually came on the 30-minute mark as scrum-half Matty Ross put Haresfinch in the lead.
Haresfinch came out of the blocks the stronger of the two teams in the second-half and took advantage of Orrell going down to 12 men through Niall Allen to make it 10-0 and the St Helens defence remained brutal and uncompromising throughout.
Orrell’s Callum Taylor eventually pierced the line and got his team on the board.Brad Calland failed with his conversion attempt but with 10 minutes, left on the clock, Orrell sensed a smash-and-grab victory. It wasn’t to be, however, as two further penalties from Ainsworth and prop Charlie Wilson iced the game and secured the Premier Division title and a 100% season for Haresfinch.
In the Division One Grand Final, Dalton faced Westhoughton Lions and both teams were battling the conditions as well as each other. Dalton scrum-half Cavan Armstrong was the first to take advantage. The Lions hit back immediately straight away through Ben Grindley-Roberts to level the score.
Right on the stroke of half-time, Armstrong exploited a Lions’ injury crisis with a chip over the top. Callum Mewes, filling in at full-back, advanced on Armstrong but the number 7 chipped over again and followed his own kick all the way to the try line. Winger Pat Kelly added the conversion to make it 16-6 to Dalton at the half.
Dalton continued to be prolific throughout the second half with Stuart High, Roland Seward and they eventually emerged victorious as the Division One champions with a 28-16 victory.
Hindpool Tigers and West Bank Bears contested the Division Two Grand Final. Both teams exchanged handling errors in the early stages but a surging line break from Jack Stephens put Hindpool in good field position. After a short stoppage that forced Lee Boyd off with injury, Daryl Archer bounced off a number of West Bank tackles to dot the ball down under the posts and make it 6-0 to the Tigers.
Full-back Finnlay Goodings was next to skirt the Bears defensive line and scored in the corner to stretch his team’s lead to 10-0.
The Tigers continued to apply the pressure to the Bears defence in the second half. Paul Rickleton impressively broke the defensive line from 20 metres out, bounced off a few despairing West Bank tackles and reached an arm over the line to add his name to the scorers’ list.
A try and penalty from Burns increased Hindpool’s lead to 22-0 before West Bank finally got on the scoresheet with Lucas Lee touching down. But their joy was short-lived with Hindpool going on to win 34-10.
Kicking off Day Two was the Division Four Grand Final between Haydock and Langworthy Reds. Prop Adam Brown opened the scoring for the Warriors and his score was quickly followed by tries from Callum O’Hara, Rob Sexton, Conner Marshall, Kyle Braithwaite and Josh Beddows to make it 32-0.
The Reds finally got on the board after 34 minutes. Conor Steel, running from deep, worked his way out to the left-hand side but slipped at the vital moment right in front of the Haydock try line, but with no Warriors defender near him, he took a quick glance at the referee before playing on and scoring his team’s first try.
Haydock continued to score regularly and with ease with Dylan Pinner, Liam Conway and Andrew Bacon all adding their names to scoresheet, while Beddows scored a brace. Despite one final response from Langworthy’s Steel, the Warriors closed out a thoroughly dominant and commanding performance 60 points to 14, adding Grand Final glory to their dramatic NWML Shield victory in July.
The final encounter of the entire weekend saw Garswood Stags take on Bank Quay Bulls for the Division Three title. Bank Quay made the perfect start as hooker Dylan Alcock carried four defenders on his back and over the try line to crash over for the first four-point score of the game.
Garswood looked up for the fight and struck back through number 13 Aaron O’Dea with Robbie Lindley tagging on the extras to level the scores within the first ten minutes of the contest. Both teams would trade blows throughout the half with the scores 18-12 in Bank Quay’s favour going into the break.
The Warrington side eventually went on to take the sting out of the game with Quinn and Alcock crossing the whitewash in the second half to round out a professional performance from the Bulls, who claimed their cup-league double, and a spectacular Grand Final festival weekend of rugby league.
