Newton le Willows 25 Colne and Nelson 15

COLNE and Nelson travelled to Newton-Le-Willows looking to get back to winning ways having lost three and drawn one of their previous four North Lancs Two fixtures.

Depleted Colne, still with captain Matty Tindall missing in the back division, started poorly and Newton crossed for an early try.

But from the start it was evident that Colne’s scrum was dominant with some good driving from Mark Britcliffe and Connor Kinnane the scrums showed good potential. This was clear after 25 minutes in when Colne were awarded a penalty try as they drove over the line.

With Jordan Sunderland taking the kicking duties for the game he converted to make it 7-5. Colne conceded a penalty 10 minutes later but luckily Newton failed to capitalise with a wayward kick.

Newton hit back hard and some big running from their pack saw them cross over the line but the ‘tackle of the season’ by Callum Kinnane saw him wrap up the big forward and hold the ball up over the line to let our scrum clean up the lost possession. Newton had to make a change and brought their usual star hooker back into the pack from the wing where he managed to put some drive into their pack. With the new change Newton retained possession and scored a well-supported try and converted to make it 12-7. But again Colne hit back just before the break when Sunderland slotted over a penalty to make it 12-10 at the break.

Colne started strong in the second half with some good runs from centre Tom Gallagher and prop Adam Padgett creating gaps and momentum. But Newton killed off Colne’s dominance with a try to make it 19-10. Pack leader Alex Wood rallied the forwards though and 10 minutes later a good lineout saw Colne create a maul five metres from Newton’s try line and with quick thinking from Sunderland saw him split from the maul and dive over for the try to make it 19-15. Both teams knew that a try from either side would seal the game and despite a fantastic tackle from Howard Wicke denying the hosts a try, some quick recycling saw the home side’s number eight cross over for his fourth try of the game.