On a cold Saturday afternoon, Saints showed a fitting reaction to the previous week’s loss at Bowdon.
The home team elected to play into the strong wind first half and Broughton Park looked to turn the league upside down with a bright start to the game.
It wasn’t long before Saints managed to breach the visitors’ defence when, after 13 minutes, the returning Andy Cummings managed to pick one of his trademark lines to cut through Park’s defence and score out wide for the first of his brace.
The home team’s set play was once again on point, securing good lineout balls and feeding the eager Saints midfield with excellent possession.
On 17 minutes, Fred Clark managed to pick a ball up within the opposition’s five metre, with the line at his mercy nothing would get in his way as he crashed over near the posts, Dai Morley added the extras and the score was 12-0.
Saints were now into the groove and began to carry strongly making good yards and retaining possession.
On 28 minutes, following sustained pressure, Saints fashioned an overlap on the left wing and Andy Cummins managed to cut another successful line and score in a similar position to his first try 17-0.
The bonus point was earned on 36 minutes following a strong run from the ever-impressive Ewan Nolan beating two defenders to score in the left corner. HT 22-0
Pleased with their work in the first half against the elements Saints started the second half with the wind at their backs.
Broughton Park competed as best they could with a gameplan for the second half to run everything from everywhere and when Saints were adjudged to have infringed Park tapped quickly and attempted to gain good territory.
On 48 minutes, Saints lost Danny Salisbury with an injury with Harry Graham entering the play, moments later Fred found himself again within five metres of the opponent’s try line and showing great determination to bust over the line, Dai added the extras 29-0.
On the hour, Adam Bramhall latched onto a good backs move that saw him go in at the corner, another successful conversion brought the score up to 36-0. The bench was emptied, and Joe Spencer and Broughton Park deserved to get on the scoreboard and after some sloppy defending on 65 minutes they went in under the sticks and successfully converted to make the score 36-7.
Saints were in no mood to allow their defence to be breached further, launching further attacks deep in Park’s half.
On 73 mins Fred Clark went in for his third try of the day with another successful conversion to bring the final score to 43-7.
Image credit: Derek Salisbury Snr
| # | Team | P | W | D | L | PF | PA | +/- | TB | LB | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Anselmians | 14 | 12 | 0 | 2 | 511 | 184 | 327 | 12 | 2 | 62 |
| 2 | Rochdale | 15 | 11 | 0 | 4 | 428 | 271 | 157 | 10 | 3 | 57 |
| 3 | Bowdon | 14 | 11 | 0 | 3 | 435 | 314 | 121 | 10 | 0 | 54 |
| 4 | Birkenhead Park | 14 | 10 | 0 | 4 | 456 | 300 | 156 | 9 | 2 | 51 |
| 5 | Firwood Waterloo | 14 | 10 | 0 | 4 | 422 | 289 | 133 | 9 | 2 | 51 |
| 6 | Glossop | 14 | 7 | 0 | 7 | 355 | 381 | -26 | 5 | 3 | 36 |
| 7 | Vale of Lune | 14 | 7 | 0 | 7 | 273 | 364 | -91 | 4 | 0 | 32 |
| 8 | Altrincham Kersal | 13 | 4 | 0 | 9 | 281 | 330 | -49 | 7 | 4 | 27 |
| 9 | Douglas (I.O.M.) | 15 | 4 | 0 | 11 | 286 | 420 | -134 | 3 | 3 | 22 |
| 10 | Winnington Park | 14 | 3 | 0 | 11 | 296 | 482 | -186 | 2 | 3 | 17 |
| 11 | Wilmslow | 14 | 3 | 0 | 11 | 253 | 431 | -178 | 2 | 1 | 15 |
| 12 | Broughton Park | 13 | 2 | 0 | 11 | 209 | 439 | -230 | 2 | 2 | 12 |
Anselmians
15 Andrew Cummings
14 Joel Ashton
13 Ewan Nolan
12 Ransford Otutaha
11 Adam Bramhall
10 David Morley
9 Liam Sadler
1 Kostja Vezanovs
2 Daniel Salisbury
3 Derek Salisbury
4 Fred Clark
5 Samuel Gregory
6 Jack Sanders
7 Jonathan Bonner
8 William Grabe
Anselmians Subs
S1 Harry Graham
S2 Thomas Gilbert
S3 Joseph Spencer
Broughton Park
15 Angus MaColl
14 Marcus Eaton
13 Fraser Boldy
12 Thomas Hurst
11 Joshua Maddock
10 Fintan Grogan
9 George Colebourne
1 Thomas Booth
2 Alfred Sherwen
3 Alexander James Lloyd
4 Thomas Sneesby
5 Stephen Edgar
6 Tom Travis
7 Aidan Butler
8 Lawrence Tully
Broughton Park Subs
S1 Max Howie
S2 Michael Tudor
S3 Michael Davies
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