Rugby union round-up: Aspull and Orrell in action

It was a tough afternoon for the visitors without usual first-teamers Bloor, Gibbons, Alex Kindred, Wilson and West.

Hoylake were playing a lot better than their league position suggested, going 12 points in front early on.

However, man of the match Mark Murray led the fightback with some impressive forward play.

Aspull weathered a very alert Hoylake and came out on top with tries from Louis Molyneux, Callum Lowe and two from Sean Rodden.

The stand-out performances came from Louis Molyneux, Ethan Eve and Ryan Wignall.

Aspull take on New Brighton at home next week (2.15pm kick-off).

The second team had no game which left a good looking third team to take on Clitheroe seconds.

A topsy-turvy game saw Aspull prevail, with some great performances from youngsters Dec White, Matty Lowe and Josh Don.

The seconds are also at home next Saturday, while the thirds have a well-earned rest week .

Meanwhile, Orrell went down 17-12 in a tense battle on a windy afternoon at Leigh.

In the opening minutes, a mistake by Orrell, when the ball was kicked directly into touch, gave Leigh a line-out in their opponents’ half.

Leigh secured the ball and moved it out to the backs, and the centre chipped the ball over the defence for their right wing to collect the ball and dive in to score a converted try.

Orrell then attacked the Leigh try line and, after a number of pick up and drives, second row Andy Kelly forced his way for an unconverted try.

Leigh were able to extend their lead before the break when, from a scrum, they quickly moved the ball out to the backs to race through a gap in the Orrell defence to make it 14-5.

James Glover made a welcome in the second half from the replacement bench, and Leigh were quickly reduced to 14 players after a dangerous tackle on Orrell wing forward David Wane.

However, Orrell were unable to take advantage of their 10 minutes with an extra man, and indeed it was Leigh who were awarded a penalty which they converted to extend their lead.

With just over 10 minutes left, Leigh were again reduced to 14 men when one of their players was yellow-carded for tackling an Orrell player without the ball.

Orrell then had a line out around 25 metres from the tryline, and hooker Lloyd Davies threw a short ball to wing forward Max Huxley at the front of the

line.

Huxley dumped a pass to scrum half Kieran Herbert to pass to No8 Dan Huxley, who found the defence had moved in field and he was able to race in unopposed to touch down for Orrell’s second try, which was converted by Craig Thomas.

Although Orrell were attacking in the last moments of the game, they eventually lost control of the ball, allowing Leigh to put the ball out of play to end the game at 17-12.

Next Saturday starts the first of four home games in a row when Orrell play De La Salle at St John Rigby College (2.15pm).

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