Bolton Amazons made their way down to Rochdale on Sunday for a friendly warm up for the upcoming round 2 of the cup games. Bolton were joined by 7 girls from Glossop to make a full 15 side.

The first game was Littleborough who put up a strong side of both attack and defence. In the first 10 minutes, Littleborough were quick to break through the defensive line and head for the try line. A second attempt at scoring from Littleborough came, but Maddie Iredale didn't let this happen. She tackled the Littleborough girl and the rest of the team gathered to make sure the ball was held up. Unfortunately, with Maddie putting her body on the line, she came off injured but was back for the second half.
During the game, Bridget Stone displayed great passing and accuracy to the backs. Bolton took time to get their heads into the game before finally putting their show on in the second half. Hard tackles and strong running took the attack closer and closer to the try but the ball was just turned over 5 metres from the line.
The amazons showed determination with Holly Turner and Iona Barnes winning the ball in the rucks. Erin Shaw made multiple strong runs offloading to Phillipa Irving and the ball was passed along the line to the winger Sophie Stone making good metres.
Towards the end of the game, the girls worked harder than ever defensively with hard hits from Betty Weall. The girls started to look like a team and their passing along the backline opening up opportunities in the defence giving them hope that they might get on the score board however, the Littleborough side was just too strong and there were many close attempts. The end score was 17-0 to Littleborough, 3 tries and only one converted.

A short gap between the games gave the girls time to regroup and see what could be done to better themselves. The second game was against Chester. A first try came from Chester who ran through a gap in the middle of the defence. Amazons noticing this, decide to sort their defensive line out leaving no gaps. It was Boltons turn to attack. Great supportive play from Betty W and Eilidh Burns to get into Chesters 22, gave the Amazons a penalty. Felicity Redford picking the ball up and deciding to go quickly ran for the line and Holly T latched on to drive over together.
Chester reacted quickly with a try down the wing with great supportive play between the winger and the centre. Ellie Winn, Felicity R and Maddie I showed their immense strength in the scrum. Eloise Ryder, who took over the role of scrum half in the absence of Eve Barrow, was a great communicator throughout the game which meant she was able to distribute the ball appropriately.
Amazons fighting back again for territory, gained a penalty just outside the 22, Iona B kicking it into touch gave Bolton a line out. From the lineout, Holly T took the ball down the blindside and scored. More fierce rugby from both sides resulted in 2 more tries for each team. Aisha Abdi running down the wing using her fancy footwork offloaded to Daisy from Glossop who supported her, drove her legs to get over the try line.
A final try for Bolton came from Eilidh B when she picked up from the back of the ruck to go over the the line. The final score was 22-20 to Bolton. The Glossop girls, many of whom have only just moved up to U14s demonstrated great supporting play throughout the whole game despite some of them playing out of position.

Coaches award went to Betty and Iona for their hard work. Betty also got Players Player. Maddie Iredale got Captains Player of the match and Holly Turner was chosen by the Glossop Coach as his Player of the Match. One of the things taken from todays game, was the fun and enjoyment that all girls involved had showing.

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