RUGBY UNION: Bolton finally got the better of Didsbury Toc H when they won a hard-fought contest at Avenue Street.

The south Manchester outfit had dominated fixtures between the teams for several years but this time it was Bolton who prevailed in a match of just two tries.

The game started at a frantic pace and Bolton were often on the back foot but the turning point came when the visitors squandered a chance to take the lead by missing a simple penalty.

The forwards started to play to their game plan, giving the backs room to assert their authority out wide. Uncharacteristically poor lineouts were causing concern but, even in scrappy spells, the pack kept the team moving forward.

The breakthrough came 10 minutes before the interval when Bolton converted a 20-metre penalty and from the re-start a two-phase play opened up a blind -side gap and Singleton raced 55 metres, supported by Pritchard, to score in the corner for an 8-0 half-time lead.

Toc H pulled a try back from a lineout but Bolton picked up the pace again and made good ground in the final period, finishing strongly for a good win that was attributed to an improved team performance.

With 70 players to select from for Saturday’s match at Old Bedians, there is fierce competition for places Bolton seconds kicked off their season with a convincing 43-7 victory over Vale of Lune thirds.

They were 14-0 up inside five minutes and continued their attacks led by fly-half Michael Singh. Bolton had a perfectly good try disallowed when a supporter was judged to have interfered with play and the visitors pulled a try back just before half-time to cut the deficit to 14-7, but the second half was one-way traffic.

With the pack well marshalled by the returning South African Lloyd Green and the debutant John Stryker, the Bolton backs had space to show their attacking prowess through Marriot and Plimmer and ran in several well-worked tries. With Barlow converting the kicks, the final scoreline emphasised how far Bolton have progressed.

The third team produced a stirring second-half performance after trailing 17-0 to Vale of Lune fourths but, despite tries from Hughes and Evans, they went down 17-10.

Phil Caswell got the only try for the fourths who, despite impressive contributions from Jason Patel, Carl Vines and Chad Boycet, went down 17-7 away to a strong Aspull side.