Players started arriving at around 12:30, there was a jubilant atmosphere after Bolton’s big comeback a week ago against Liverpool Collegiate but they knew they’d have to play a lot more consistently to beat Warrington this week who were sitting pretty in 3rd, and contesting heavily to win the league. This was the start of a very hard set of fixtures for the Bolton boys and no way better to kick it off than at home in the ‘Theatre of Trees’.
The weather was clear and dry and thankfully not much wind was about, but as ever in Bolton it was extremely cold. The Mayor of Bolton Andy Morgan was in attendance so Bolton were looking to start quick and fast and put a good show on.
The game kicked off and despite what Bolton were looking to do, as usual this year, they seemed off the pace of the game, Warrington a clearly very well-drilled side full of fresh faces compared to last year, with their 10 commanding the game, quickly put 10 points on the home side with a lovely little pickup straight through the middle of the ruck and into open space, under the sticks he went, a penalty was soon made after this.
Bolton decided to start playing the game with again, who else, but Ross Hayden commanding the pitch with his kicking game and after a penalty just inside their own half Warrington were defending the ensuing lineout on their 5 metre line. Chris Hall rose far higher than anyone else to claim the ball thrown by Dan Aspinall before perfectly setting up a maul, soon to be pushed to about a metre out. It was stopped, Bolton needed a big manly human to run in there and give the final effort to get it over the line and who else other than Josh Holmes, running in from about 10 metres away and sinking his big burly body into the maul to give it the extra effort it needed to get over the line. Bolton 7 - 10 Warrington.
However, as much as the Mayor and Bolton's sideline were hoping this were a sign of things to come, it wasn't, Warrington regained field possession and started to play fast fluid rugby, out the back passes pulled to multiple members of the backline, strong hard lines from the forwards alike meant that soon Warrington had put another 12 points on Bolton in the form of a converted try and an unconverted try too.
With halftime fast approaching, Bolton made headway down the pitch with again the result being a lineout on the 5 metre line, this lineout however was not set as clean and thus Paul Leigh made a great carry to keep Bolton moving forwards, tight rugby ensued much what Bolton are known for at the moment. Jack ‘DG9’ Robinson saw his opportunity to score what can only be described as a fall over the line from a minuscule distance but sometimes that's all it takes, a level head and a bit of brawn. The conversion of course was kicked and made by Ross Hayden. Bolton 14 - 22 Warrington.
Halftime.
After the restart, Bolton narrowed the gap even further, noticing that Warrington's wingers and fullback were struggling to field kicks in unison, Ross again opted to kick the ball, with solid chases every time Bolton seemed to have found their stride early, acquiring the ball deep in the Warrington half. Ross found himself at the back of a ruck and opted to quickly switch play to the short side with a cut out pass, straight into winger Marcus O’Donoghue’s hands and he was in clean space and soon dotted down for Bolton's third try of the game. Conversion missed. Bolton 19 - 22 Warrington.
Warrington quickly turned this around however, with slick hands and some very hard running, in particular from their MOTM number 8. This same player ended up scoring his second try of the game. It was well deserved as Warrington seemed to have much better structure and zeal than Bolton did for most of the game. Bolton 19 - 27 Warrington.
Bolton entered a new light for the last 10 minutes trying to claw the lead down to one try, and they got their just rewards as Warrington received a penalty under their sticks which soon Ross kicked over to make it a one score game, a poor restart from Bolton meant Warrington ended up with possession and some silly mistakes meant that they received a penalty and thus the game was back to being just out of reach. Bolton 22 - 30 Warrington.
Again Bolton bounced back and went down the field and scored a penalty. Bolton 25 - 30 Warrington.
With 5 minutes to play, Bolton had possession and made their way down the pitch with some decent carrying from the forwards. Bolton received a penalty on the halfway line and Ross put the ball deep into Warrington's 22 for a lineout. 2 minutes to play. The lineout was won and the maul was set but alas the Warrington lads were not budging. With some quick thinking Jack passed the ball out to Ross, who in two touches caught the ball, then dropped it onto his foot, the ball was soaring across the pitch beautifully weighted and encouraging anyone to run onto it, Josh Holmes was their, he was under the ball and clear of the sideline, all he had to do was focus on catching the ball and it would be a clean run in for the try to bring Bolton level. The ball drops, Josh catches it, then spills it into touch. None of the Bolton team or sideline can believe it, from a guy who talks such a big game it seems that he's all bark and no bite. The game subsequently ended soon after Warrington kicked the ball out and won the game. Bolton 25 - 30 Warrington.
Warrington were probably the better team on the day, and deserved the win. But Bolton had the chance to win and failed.

Final Score: Bolton 25 - 30 Warrington
MOTM: Jonny Wallis (Captain)