Parr Hare & Hounds 8, Saddleworth A 28

DESPITE the final scoreline, this was a game the Hounds could, and should, have won.

After dominating the opening quarter all they had to show for their efforts was a penalty goal by full-back Neil Briers.

Hounds' insistence on trundling the ball up the middle played right into the hands of the big Saddleworth pack and when the visitors grabbed a converted try, against the run of play, to lead 6-2 at the interval, there was an air of inevitability about the outcome.

Saddleworth stretched their advantage early in the second half with two more six-pointers, the second coming from a kick-though which looked to be collected by a player in a blatantly offside position. Hounds, somewhat belatedly, began to move the ball away from the middle and the result was a try by hard-working second-row Phil Thompson, from a pass by skipper Karl Grounds, Briers' conversion narrowing the gap to 10 points.

But Saddleworth hit back with an unconverted try and then wrapped up the game when a speculative kick ahead took a wicked bounce which left two home defenders stranded before landing in the hands of a following visiting player who raced under the posts to score and give his side a flattering final margin.

Grounds was adjudged the Dolphin Glass man-of-the-match for Hounds and there were good performances also from scrum-half Andy Knapper, centre Paul Thompson and full-back Neil Briers.

Hounds' match ball sponsor was TC Racing.

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