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.
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