Rugby League - Champion Schools tournament qualifiers

Hollingworth Year 10 in action against Philips

Hollingworth made it two from two as they qualified at year 7 and year 10. They will join the winners of the other preliminary qualifiers, affected by the poor weather, in the hat for the regional stages of the draw.

Year 8: Bolton School Vs Broad Oak (Bury) (To be played Thursday 4 October, at Bolton School. Referee: J.Duffy)

Year 9: St Josephs (Bolton) Vs Bury Church (To be played Thursday 4 October, at Westhoughton Lions. Referee: N.Hart)

Year 11: Philips (Bury) Vs Canon Slade (Bolton) (To be played Wednesday 3 October, at Philips. Refree: S.Marsh)

Year 7 Festival report
Four teams battled it out for a place in the first round of the rugby leage Champion Schools tournament at Matthew Moss High on Tuesday (2 October).

Matthew Moss (Rochdale), Hollingworth (Rochdale), Philips High (Bury) and Westhoughton (Bolton)all battled it out in a 9 a side round robin festival to see who would go forward as the Bolton, Bury and Rochdale entry in the North West Rounds.

Having been at high school for a matter of weeks, the teachers had very little time to prepare their charges but, with an abundance of club players from Mayfield Mustangs, Bury Broncos and Westhoughton Lions, the quality of play on display was very high. 
Both Rochdale schools came firing out of the blocks, as Hollingworth romped home 4-0 against a big Philips team and Matthew Moss used home advantage to sneak a victory against a strong looking Westhoughton.

Hollingworth's form continued as they swept aside Matthew Moss 6-0 in the Rochdale Derby, which pitted Mayfield players against each other in a bruising affair!

Westhoughton started to hit form and edged out Philips 3-2.

The final round of matches were very tense as Moss, Holly High and Wests all still had a chance to finish top, and Philips searched for the first win of the day.

Philips again threw everything they had into the game and lost a player to the blood bin. Matthew Moss capitalised and ran in late tries to finish 4-1 victors.

Westhoughton were led superbly aroung the pitch by their hooker and held Hollingworth to 2-2 at half time. The second half was bruising but an opportunist try following a mistake on their own line by Hollingworth gave them the only try of the half.

Unfortunately it was not enough for either Moss or Westhoughton, as Hollingworth's earlier 4-0 and 6-0 victories gave them the superior points difference to qualify, and they will join their year 10s in the North West draw next week.

Final table 
Hollingworth: Won 2  Lost 1 Difference +9 Points 7
Westhoughton: Won 2 Lost 1 Difference +1 Points 7
Matthew Moss: Won 2 Lost 1 Difference -2 Points 7
Philips: Won 0 Lost 3 Difference -8 Points 3

Year 10 match report
Hollingworth Business and Enterprise College proved too strong for a plucky Philips High School team in the only Champion Schools Qualifier that survived the weather last week.

Philips, playing in their first ever 13 a side fixture after being crowned Bury champions last year, were a thorn in the Hollingworth side and in the first ten minutes looked as though they may have the quality to compete.

It was Hollingworth who stepped up the pace, using the experience of numerous service area and regional players to out gun the Philips team in every department and finish 44-0 victors.

Try of the day came at the very end of the game, as Mayfields Cameron Connolly floated a delightful inside ball for the on rushing Callum Dawson (Rochdale Cobras) to hit a delightful line and go through untouched under the posts.

Hollingworth now go forward to the last 16 of the regional stages, where they will be pitted in an open draw against the best the North West has to offer.

Many thanks to Rochdale Mayfield for providing facilities for the game to go ahead and senior official Robert Smithies for taking control of proceedings.

Hollingworth team: Callum Dawson, Owen Thompson, Jorgan Cella, Brad Tetlow, Tom Fitzgerald, Cameron Connolly, Zac Baker, Matthew Lees, Zak Hartley, Dylan Critchley, Travis Holden, Sam Battersby, Reece Cumisky, Jordan Strand, Curt, Dean Stanton, Josh Wheelhouse, Joe Buckley