Hawcoat battle hard in De La Salle defeat

HAWCOAT Park’s tough November finished with a third successive North Lancs/Cumbria League defeat.

Park went down in awful weather at De La Salle as the high-flying Salford side extended their own unbeaten run to four matches.

Everyone in the Maroon and Whites squad put in a committed performance and pushed their hosts all the way, but they could not get over the line to take something from the game.

Hawcoat had the wind at their backs in the first half and took the game to De La Salle, with the pack working hard to set the platform and keeping the ball tight before scrum half Anthony Munday could release fly-half James Howden.

The home full-back was strong and effective at running the ball back, and the hosts also had a physical pack who defended well.

Midway through the half, Park scored their only try while they had an extra man with a home player in the sin-bin.

Great forward drives by Jason Priss, Brad Morrow and John Donnan started them forward before a lineout take by Ash Mowat allowed the visitors to push forward with a driving maul. The pack and centres Chris Burns and Grady Slater were quickly up in support and hard-working number eight Matt Sayle was the last to get his hands on the ball before forcing his way over to make it 5-0.

Mowat, fellow second-rower Will Mallinson, back-rower and skipper Adam Grainger, Mike Lightfoot and Sayle worked hard to build on the lead, but met a De La Salle defence equally determined to keep them at bay.

The score remained 5-0 at half-time, with Hawcoat feeling they should have had more points on the board to reflect their dominance.

The second half saw De La Salle have most of the territorial advantage.

The Park defence held strong and the back three of debutant winger Liam Murray, Joel Callister and full-back Jon Moses did a good job as the hosts played the corners. De La Salle had some strong-running forwards and attempted to move the ball through impressive three-quarters despite the difficult conditions.

Through the likes of hooker Brad Morrow and scrum half Anthony Munday, Park managed to frustrate them until midway through the half, when their powerful prop managed to force his way over for 5-5. A penalty soon after put the home side ahead.

As the game came to a close, it was almost pitch black and impossible to tell from the mud-covered shirts what team was which.

Just before the final whistle, De La Salle scored the try to seal the game as, following a long run from their back-rower, the ball bounced in the corner for a team-mate to ground.

Skipper Grainger was picked out on his comeback from a cracked kneecap, while Murray had a great first game and took the players’ man-of-the-match award.

Harrison O’Brien, another product from last year’s successful Colts teams, also made his first appearance and showed up well.