Brighouse Rangers 32
THIS game marked a return from injury for Jamie Bullock whose reappearance alongside Alfred Allsopp completes probably the most natural forward pairing for any under eights team in the region. But while Rangers can now field
a team of eight young hopefuls, Meltham had 13 warming up before the whistle.
The home side began with a solid defence and Allsopp’s first drive gained little momentum. Meltham were able to close down rapidly any move Brighouse had to offer in the first six plays and neither Chris English Melvin nor Darryl Lappage’s darting and penetrating runs offered any of the usual defensive confusion fans of this upcoming team have become used to enjoying.
Breaking out, the big guns of Sam Manning and Jacob Doughty did little to effect Rangers claim to yards up the field.
If Meltham thought they had the upper hand, however, they were quickly disappointed the Rangers defence was easily equal to them and the game quickly became a war of determination and guile as it was clear that no one was going to give away tries easily.
Rangers broke the deadlock midway through the first half as Lappage opened the game up when finally his vision and speed beat the Meltham defence as if it had never been there and scored in the centre of the try line.
Moments later after another foiled Meltham attack, Doughty pulled off almost the exact same move with at least the same tenacity.
Meltham weren’t to be denied and responded with some rapid attacks up the wings but it was Rangers that closed the first half with the upper hand after Doughty sprinted the entire width of the pitch for a try saving tackle that launched the Meltham winger clean off the pitch with inches to spare.
The second half was when the game truly came alive. Meltham, with the advantaged of being able to dip into a pool of five substitutes, could turn up the heat while Rangers, with no subs, had little choice but to endure it.
And endure they did and then some great rugby. Sam Richards, with his ability to duck under much bigger players flailing tackles reaped rewards.
