Rugby Kirkham’s six-shooters on target in floodlit Cup KIRKHAM Grammar School under-16 rugby team made it six wins out of six by beating St Anselm’s 21-5 in the first round of the Preston Grasshoppers floodlight competition. Try-scorers were James Gardiner, Benedict Fulford-Brown and Henry Redshaw. Jamie Roper kicked two penalties. The first XV beat Wirral Grammar 19-16 after flying winger Tom Bowden scored an early try. By half-time Wirral were 13-7 up, but then KGS produced their best rugby of the season as wingers Bowden and Tommy Banks added further tries. The second team lost 37-17 to Wirral but hit back in the second half with two tries. Poor tackling and exposure out wide exploited by the Wirral fly half ensured KGS remained in their own half for much of the first period. The under-16s won 25-5 with tries by Ashley Jones, Toby Townsend, Hendry Redshaw and Matthew Edgar, and two Jamie Roper goals. The under-15 A recorded their first win over Wirral, 24-5. George Naylor, Jake Hodgkinson and Joe Casson scored. The under-14 A team won 52-10, with hat-tricke by captain Tom Hurst and Precious Nwaokomah proved. The under-14 B team drew 5-5 thanks to a Ben Jones try. The under-13 A team won 33-10 as the outstanding Ben Rhodes-Powers scored all five tries. Callum Wilkinson and Sam Gale kicked the goals. The under-13 B team lost 12-0 to Wirral. Scorps beat the jitters Scorpions preserved their 100 per cent record but were given an early fright by the 12-man visitors. Even so, the Blackpool side opened the scoring against the run of play with Adam Constantine’s first try for the club. Widnes hit back with a converted try and it needed big hits from Tom Anderson and Kyle Daniels to prevent them scoring again until prop Omar Fredrick burst through from halfway for a try. Moorfield scored next to reduce the deficit to two points before touchdowns by Zach Ward and Anderson, also his first for Scorpions, made it 20-10 at the break. Scorpions took control and Joe Bullock scored next before Fredrick’s second, though there was a late consolation try for Moorfield. The conversions were shared between influential half-backs Anthony Livingstone and Liam Wilkinson. Oliver Jordan returned from injury with a man-of-the-match display, while Taylor Ramsden impressed on debut. Scorpions: Bullock, Constantine, Cornall, Ward, Solomi, Wilkinson, Livingstone, Beattie, Egan, Wainwright, Daniels, Fredrick, Anderson, Cotton, Butcher, Jordan, Ramsden. Rochdale Mayfield 14 Blackpool Scorps U13 16 Callum Prue opened the scoring early on, while Joe Phelps also caused the Rochdale side lots of problems. George Higgins cashed in with his first try for the club to put the visitors in control. However, Mayfield reduced the arrears to 12-4 at half-time with a try in the corner. The home side applied the pressure after the restart and edged ahead with two tries. However, Scorpions went back on the attack and Prue’s second try clinched the win, though the visitors had to hold out for the tense final minutes. Joe Phelps and Jordan Tierney kicked conversions, while the outstanding players were Jordan Curtis, Alec Swindells, Scott Butler, Oliver Winter and man of the match George Higgins. Under-14s fly flag as Arnold teams slip up Arnold’s Under-14A have made the best start to the season of any year 9 rugby team in the country – according to the School’ Rugby website – after recording six successive victories. The 1st XV went down by 15-5 at Stonyhurst, their try a 65-metre flowing move finished by winger Nick Costello from Adam Jackson’s fine pass. The 2nd XV went down 50-0 despite some good play by Chris West. And the U15A lost 34-5, with Ben Blake the scorer and Luke Smith outstanding. The U15B were denied, 32-24, by two late Stonyhurst tries after Alex Williams, Josh Buckley and Nathan Wimlett scored for Arnold. Jacob Nickson, James Aird, Joe Shaw, Jake Taylor and Will Fairhead were the scorers in the U14A win, while David Mitchell and Jack Sprigg both scored hat-tricks in the B team’s 61-0 win. Other scorers were Edward Harrison, Ben Mortimer, Tom Rutherford and Alex Fowler. The U13A lost 31-0 and the U13B 34-10 despite tries by Oliver Mills and Tom Wrigley. In the Lancashire Cup, the first XV won 27-12 at Bury GS after taking an early 10-point through tries by Nick Costello and Josh Bentley. Bury fought back to take the lead before tries by Peter Armstrong (2) and Adam Jackson put Arnold out of sight. The U14A an U13A both played against Bolton School, the younger team losing 31-0. However, the U14s marched on 61-7 with hat-tricks by James Aird and Jacob Reid and good tries from Joe Shaw (2) and Will Fairhead. Email us and tell us about your stories!