Chargers under 15s rugby league side have one hand on the Yorkshire league division 4 trophy with another commanding performance away in West Yorkshire. They stretched their unbeaten run to 15 games and put themselves within 2 points of the title with another mixture of solid defence and potent attack.
Both sides struggled to retain possession in the first few minutes due to the slippy conditions but a good set of six resulted in a knock on from a Harry Chapman kick and the Chargers scored soon after the resulting scrum, prop Ben Doxey crashing over for a trademark try on 7 minutes – Chapman adding the conversion. The teams traded possession for a short while but the Chargers were looking strong and it was only a matter of time before more good possession resulted in another Doxey try, again converted by Chapman.
By this stage the Chargers were defending a narrow pitch very solidly, with almost every tackle being completed by 2, 3 or even 4 defenders, leaving Rangers nowhere to go. On 21 minutes Ryan Banner hit a great attacking line and although he was caught, the Brighouse defence couldn’t recover and Harry Stephenson capitalised. 2 more points from Chapman made the score 18-0. At this point Chargers introduced Callum Hallows off the bench, his first game back after a long injury break. With his first touch he finished off a great move and then added a second when he leaped to take a smart chip kick from Macauley Watkinson in the in-goal area to touch down and the extra points were added by Chapman to make it 28-0 at half time.
The second half began with Brighouse fired up by their half time talk and with Chargers pulled back for a forward pass that would have led to a try and then conceding two back-to-back penalties they scored from a scoot in the corner. A good conversion followed to make the score 6-28 but that was the last chance they got – the Chargers responded to some pressure from the home players and crowd with some even more ferocious defence, particularly Matley Brain, Ben Doxey, Aaron Wycherley and Jake Beech. The intensity began to tell and a knock on close to their own line by Brighouse resulted in a scrum from which Hallows was put in for his hat trick. Ben Doxey, who was given the Man of the Match, followed soon after with his own hat trick from close range and then on 50 minutes it was Hallows again who chased a hacked kick by Watkinson to touch down under the posts for his fourth, Warren Brown adding the extras.
The final score of the day was made by Luke Walters, who scooted into the corner from dummy half, Joe Holland capping an impressive performance at full back with a great conversion from the touchline. Hallows was denied a fifth try when he touched a kick down just beyond the dead ball line but it made no difference. The Chargers had another comprehensive victory and an even better performance.
Chargers: Holland (1G), Brown (1G), Banner, Wycherley, Bullars, Watkinson, Chapman (4G), Doxey (3T), Walters (1T), Brain, Briscoe, Stephenson (1T), Beech, Hallows (4T)
