Hoppers breeze into Lancashire Cup Final

Hoppers eased through to the final of the Lancashire Cup with a convincing victory over Sedgley Park. The win sets Hoppers up with a clash against rivals Fylde in a rematch of last year’s final.

Hoppers fielded a very strong side which was too strong for the visitors up front and to quick in the backs. Steffan Thomas got the opening score in the fifth minute with an excellent piece of finishing, after James Williams had made the initial line break Thomas ghosted past his man and had to much pace for the covering defence touching down in the left corner.

The lead was increased midway through the half as Hoppers second row combined well, after pinning Sedgley down in the corner. Wayne Steel then charged down the box kick with Mark Rigbye picking up and crossing for the score, Nick Smith added the conversion from a difficult angle.

Sedgley registered their first, and only, point’s just minutes later when Tom Leader, who had hit the posts with his opening kick, duly slotted his second attempt at goal.

However, the visitors never looked like threatening the home defence and Hoppers stretched their lead on the half hour mark. This time it was Thomas who made a powerful break up the middle and from the resulting breakdown Jordan Pearson used a combination of power and pace to smash through the defence and add to his impressive tally of tries. Hoppers pretty much had the game sewn up as the half drew to a close scoring their fourth try. A scrum on the 40m line was picked up from the base by Harrison Collins who combined well with scrum half Sean Hall to put full back Owen McKenna into space, McKenna beat the wing on his inside shoulder and the side stepped his opposite number to score. Smith converted both tries to take Hoppers into the break with a commanding 26-3 lead.

The second half continued in much the same vein as the first with Hoppers able to dominate up front and looked dangerous every time they moved the ball wide. Though it took over ten minutes to score the first try of the second half it was well worth the wait. A great set piece move saw the returning Phil Whyte make good ground up the middle and he linked well with replacement Tom Hughes who’s first touch put Williams into space on the left wing and no-one was going to catch him as he coasted 40m for the score.

It was another replacement returning to the first XV that rounded off the game in style as Dominic Moon came off the bench to score two tries in quick succession. The first came from a 5m scrum in the left corner, after Hoppers had been held up in goal. The forwards showed their dominance and drove Sedgley back across the line for Moon to simply pick up and touch down from the base. Then from a line out close to the line in the other corner Hoppers utilised the catch and drive to good effect with Moon using the blind side to good advantage to bag his second. Alex Zavallis-Roebuck was successful with the conversion to round off the scoring.

Rusty Hoppers go down to Harrogate

Hoppers finally got to play some rugby in 2010 but unfortunately lost their second consecutive away fixture in a physical contest that they could have won. This was the first game since December 12th and it showed throughout with plenty of mistakes and some unimaginative rugby.

The pack worked tirelessly and Hoppers had the best of both possession and territory, they were camped inside the Harrogate half for much of the second half but were unable to walk away with anything but a few penalty goals.

Both sides started the game at a good pace and looked to run the ball but there was a lengthy stoppage due to an injury to a Harrogate player. This seemed to disrupt the Hoppers as from the resulting 5m line out the home pack used the catch and drive to good effect and powered over the line, with prop Simon Davies touching down.

Harrogate then enjoyed a good series of possession inside Hoppers half but some resolute defence held them at bay. When Hoppers did get back into the game they showed flashes of what could have been. Tom Ball was a constant threat form scrum half and after a series of penalties he took a quick tap to advance the ball deep into Harrogate’s half. After yet another home infringement Alex Zavallis-Roebuck confidently slotted home the kick at goal to reduce the deficit to 5-3.

After weathering an initial attack Hoppers spent the remainder of the half camped deep in Harrogate territory with the pack beginning to dominate proceedings. Several set plays inside the home 22 came to nothing and Hoppers had to settle for a second Zavallis-Roebuck penalty just before the break to take them in with a slender lead.

The second half started in a similar vein with the game descending into a war of attrition. While both teams looked dangerous in loose play Harrogate reverted to a stifling kicking game and Hoppers for all the effort could not break down the home defence. The game started to develop an edge which was not helped by some dubious decisions and things reached boiling point 15 minutes in when a large fight broke off well away from the ball. This continued for some time with no official involvement and resulted in a yellow card for each team with Harrogate’s Harry Hannan and an unfortunate Jordan Pearson leaving the field for ten minutes.

Midway through the second half replacement Mark Edwards had a kick charged down with the ball landing straight into the hands of Harrogate wing Steve Parsons who was able to slip the first tackle and sprint 40m to the try line to retake the lead. Mike Aspinall added the conversion to give the home side a 12-6 lead.

Hoppers again put in considerable effort in search of points but they were unable to break down the home defence. Mark Edwards reduced the deficit with a well struck penalty just minutes after the home score but Harrogate were able to weather the storm and sneak win.