The Minis entertained Vale of Lune this weekend, while the Junior sides all faced Quarter final ties in the Blacksticks Lancashire cup competitions.
The Under 7s had a strong squad of 26 players this weekend with Vale of Lune offering decent opposition. there were some excellent individual tries and the knowledge is growing about team play! The team were also presented with an England RFU goodie bag each awarded after coach Simon Porter took part in a radio show for the World Cup campaign last summer.
The Under 10s faced the challenge of a fired up Vale squad. Overall Hoppers had the best of the games, with two very good wins, two very hard fought and scrappy draws and one loss, but one very happy and very tired squad of players following a great mornings graft.
The Under 13’s faced a home Cup quarter final against Leigh. Leigh started very strongly and put Hoppers under a lot of pressure for most of the first half, scoring 2 tries and one conversion to take a 12 point lead. Our forwards started to get the upper hand and worked their way into Leigh’s half where we released the backs and with a couple of well timed passes made a gap and scored under the posts. In the second half Hoppers became more and more dominant and quickly scored another converted try to take the lead 14-12. Hoppers then spent the rest of the half camped in and around the Leigh 22, but to their credit Leigh defended strongly and although Hoppers came close to adding to thier score on several occasions (just missing a penalty kick at the death) Leigh never threatened Hoppers line again so the score remained 14-12 to Hoppers. Hoppers will be away to Warrington in the semi-final.
The Under 14s beat Ashton 41-24 at home in the Plate quarter-final. They now face a home semi-final against Wigan.
The Under 15s drew 12-12 away at Rochdale in the Lancashire Plate quarter final, Hoppers go through as away team as everything else was equal. Hoppers were down 7-0 at half time but a much improved second half performance saw Hoppers move 12-7 ahead, a last minute try in the corner from Rochdale gave them a tough conversion chance to steal the game but it just drifted wide. In the semi-final, Hoppers will be away to Heaton Moor.
The Under 16s crashed out of the Lancashire Cup beaten 30-0 away at Liverpool Collegiate. On the day, Hoppers couldn’t compete with Collegiate. Defeat means there will be no sixth consequetive Lancs Cup for this group of players.
