Leyland Warriors 12 - Chorley Panthers 14

Deja vu for the Warriors . . .

Leyland hosted local rivals Chorley Panthers in this eagerly anticipated game and were expecting a tough encounter, with Chorley having been in Division 1 last season.

Leyland got off to a great start, just as they did last week, and after the usual early exchanges of pleasantries between the two forward packs, it was the Warriors took the lead. Forcing a turnover, Leyland got near to the Panthers line and Tommy Gallagher charged onto a short lead pass from Scott Low, to score near the posts, with Andy Robinson converting, 6-0.

Again, Leyland's defence remained a dominant feature of the game, limiting the gains made by Chorley and after twenty minutes, they extended their lead when Cory Bennie crashed through several defenders to score his first Open Age try for the Warriors, with Robinson again on target, 12-0.

The remainder of the first half was all Leyland, with several opportunities to score going unconverted before a Warriors error, compounded by a penalty, saw Chorley squeeze in at the left hand corner, 12-4 at the break.

That was as good as it got for the Warriors, despite again being dominant early in the half, they were unable to capitalise on several good chances and were allowing Chorley to transition straight into attack when turning the ball over. The Panthers capitalise on this to add an unconverted try, 12-8.

Again, Leyland had chances to extend their lead but the game was an even arm wrestle now and soon Chorley gained the upper hand and scored again to take the lead, 12-14. As in the previous week, Leyland were very good in patches but have to improve on execution and transition when they get good attacking position.

Team: Andy Robinson, Joe Ainscough, David Lonsdale, Paul Lorenzen, Tom Whittaker, Dan Horridge, Scott Low, Si Dempsey, Si Wrigley, Tyler Gore, Tommy Gallagher, Callum Brown, Rob Lonsdale, Cory Bennie, Peter Heatley, Sam Biggs.