Bolton Rugby Club’s Amazons Under-14s travelled to Eccles for the Northern Girls Network Cup final day - and won the Plate trophy.

They were up against a combined team made up of Eccles, Manchester and Burnley U14s in the Plate final and were able to take a 19-player squad to Gordon Street.

Bolton started strongly and pressure from the start saw them keep the opposition in their own half for the first 10 minutes of the game.

Although the home team had its share of possession, strong defence from the Amazons kept any attack at bay.

Bolton were first to score when Jasmine Cox got the ball 10 metres out but was just tackled short of the line before Holly Turner was on hand to collect the ball and dive over the line.

Captain Iona Barnes stepped up and converted the try to give Bolton an early 7-0 lead.

Bolton started to dominate the scrums, not only winning their ball but on occasion winning opposition scrums as well. The front five of Charlotte Stone, Felicity Redford, Raid Hodgkinson-Bostock, Amber Pettitt and Millie-Jo Anderson drove the opposition off the ball.

Further pressure from the Bolton forwards saw Felicity Redford going over from close range with several Eccles players clinging on to her. Again Iona converted the try to make the score 14-0.

Eccles were not to be outdone however and a lapse in concentration from the Amazons defence allowed them back into the game. The try was unconverted reducing the deficit to 14-5.

Bolton stuck at it, with their back row of Sophie Rose, Holly Turner and Amelia Crook tackling everything that moved and turning possession over from the home team.

This pressure paid off when Eilidh Burns, playing at scrum-half, took the opportunity to go through a gap in the Eccles defence to score, making it 19-5 at the interval.

Phillipa Irving and Bridget Stone replaced Amber and Millie-Jo in the second row for the second half, while Eleanor Shawcross came on for Tope Oyeside after she had taken a knock.

Bolton continued to dominate the scrums and powerful runs from Raid Hodgkinson-Bostock earned her the parents’ player-of-the-match award.

Millie-Jo Anderson was on form, playing her best game to date and carrying the ball well into contact, while both Jasmine Cox and Iona Barnes had sniping runs.

At one point, Iona noticed there were no opposition defenders covering the back and kicked the ball with Jasmine in hot pursuit but the bounce was not favourable for Jasmine and she could not gather it.

The opposition never gave up and when they were awarded a penalty five metres out, they popped it to one of their strong runners who smashed their way through a gap. The try was unconverted meaning the score went to 19-10.

Amelia Crook then scored two second-half tries with Iona Barnes also getting a brace for Bolton.

Iona was also on form with the kicking tee and converted five out of the seven tries to bring the final score to 45-19 after Eccles managed to pull a converted try back.

Bolton Amazons were worthy winners on their performance and made their parents very proud.

It was to be their last match as an U14s group as the team now splits into U16s and U14s from September.

It was a fantastic final performance to lift the trophy and the coaches’ player-of-the-match award went to the whole squad.

The U12s Amazons attended Eccles for a pitch-up and play.

They were teamed up with Glossop and Burnley and their first match was against Metrovicks.

It was apparent straight away the girls were evenly-matched with no scores for some time.

Eventually, both sides got on the scoreboard and finished at two tries apiece - both of the Bolton scores through Burnley players, though the result of set ups by Amazons girls.

By the second match against a Rochdale and Chester combination, the Bolton youngsters were really warming up and the team won by seven tries to one - four scored by Amazons players. Both Eve Barrow and Aisha Abdi scored by ripping the ball from the opposition and putting in exceptional runs. Likewise, Ariana Chapelhow was unstoppable as she sprinted nearly the length of the pitch to score.

Aisha’s final try was a result of catching the ball from the opposition’s kick and running straight from before the halfway to the try line.

The U12s’ final match was against an incredibly strong Littleborough who scored almost immediately and the score could have been a lot higher.

However, the defence from the Amazons players, particularly Ariana, Eve, Eloise Ryder and Phoebe Mellon, who held them back at the try line time and time again, was good. Aisha Abdi managed to beat Littleborough’s strong defensive line with a wonderful dummy as it finished three ties to one in favour of the opposition.