It was a busy weekend for the Minis with Bowdon on tour on Saturday and an away trip to Sedgley Park on Sunday. The Junior sides were in cup action this weekend too.
The Under 7s all loved being back outside on the grass after spending the last 6 months indoors at Tulketh. All 3 Hoppers teams had an excellent round of games with Bowden putting into practice what they have learnt throughout the winter. With some improvements still to be made in defence, they are showing great potential for the upcoming fixtures and festivals.
With a significant difference in squad sizes Hoppers Under 8s only sent one squad down to Sedgley Park on Sunday with the remaining players staying at home for training and games. The boys who made the trip represented Hoppers really well and put in a fantastic effort in all 4 games on what was, for a pleasant change, a very warm morning. 6 a side games are pretty fast flowing and tries were scored regularly with all the players getting involved. It was great to see the efforts put in at training coming together with the Hoppers boys being well organised, communicating well and showing some great skills. Keeping track of scores at this level is not the main objective but according to our boys they definitely scored more that the opposition!
The Under 13s beat a very strong and well organised Warrington away to reach the final of the Lancs Cup. Warrington went into an early lead but Hoppers held their heads and following a period of sustained pressure drew level then went into the lead. Warrington then scored to end the half level at 12-12. Hoppers started the second half strongly and kept the pressure on and with another two tries took a 26-12 lead. Warrington ran in a late try at the death but Hoppers regained possession from the restart and were able to control the last few minutes to take the win 26-19. This was a huge team effort and every player played their hearts out – well done!! The Under 13s will face Aldwinians in the Final at Fylde on 24th April.
The Under 14s beat Wigan 41-12 at home in the Lancs Plate semi final. Wigan opened the scoring but from then on it was all Hoppers scoring 3 tries in each half. Hoppers will play Orrell in the Plate final at Southport on 10th April.
The Under 15s lost their Plate semi-final 25-36 away at Heaton Moor, it was a closely contested game both sides scoring 5 tries each. Heaton Moor also getting 4 conversions and a penalty with some excellent kicking from the tee. Hoppers lads deserve great credit for a good performance and kept going right to the last minute.
The Colts lost 15-7 away to Blackburn in the Lancs Trophy, Hoppers fell behind 12-0 but put in a great effort to try and claw back the deficit but couldn’t quite break down the Blackburn defence.
