Manchester Canalsiders 0
Burnley and Pendle RLFC 84

Burnley and Pendle RLFC kicked off their summer season with a visit to newcomers, Manchester Canalsiders.

Burnley and Pendle travelled with a number of players unavailable but it was testament to the growing interest in the sport in this area that a total of seven debutants made up the 18 man squad.

It was immediately clear from the kick off that the Reds were far too powerful for their hosts. A strong kick return from debutant, Sam Mounsey, resulted in a quick play the ball and the returning Sam Walker outpaced the covering defence to score out wide.

The home side had no response to the hard running display of the Burnley and Pendle forwards. Further tries quickly followed by Adam Healy, another by Sam Walker, Jack Wilkinson and a try on his debut by Danny Myers.

When the home side did manage to mount an attack on their left hand side, this was quickly snuffed out by hard hitting centre, Jack Wilkinson. By half time the game was well and truly out of reach of Manchester.

The game continued in the same vein as the second half started. The try scoring continued with brother Will and Marcus Farnworth getting on the score sheet, with Marcus giving an almost perfect display of goal kicking.

The game did give an opportunity to play some of the youngsters, such as Curtis Noone, Gareth Gregory and Rob Parkin, making their debut for Burnley and Pendle. All performed well, with a special mention for Parkin who showed some early promise as a hard hitting front rower.

Burnley and Pendle are in for a much tougher test this weekend in the shape of Bury Broncos who sit at the top of the Merit League Table.

n Try Scorers: Sam Walker (5), Adam Healy (2), Ryan Mirfield (2), Will Farnworth (2), Jack Wilkinson, Sam Hamer, Danny Myers Conversions: Marcus Farnworth (12)