In chilly conditions Dowdales and St Benedict’s year sevens put on a show to raise the temperature in the coveted Carnegie Regional Champions Cup.

The game started at break neck speed and referee Curtis Braithwaite, let the game flow openly as he controlled a high paced game. 

St Benedict’s were first off the mark with just two minutes on the clock, as prop forward Connor McAleavey latched on to a well placed kick from live wire half back Dean Rooney and outpaced the covering defence to go in from 40 metres out. 

Greg Rooney added the conversion for a 6-0 lead but those were the last points the west Cumbrians scored in the match as Dowdales ran out 36-6 winners. The squad is pictured alongside.

The south Cumbrian side had replied instantly, re-gathering the ball after strong defence forced the ball out. Kieran Walker seized his opportunity and outpaced the St Benedict’s defence on a weaving run that finished under the posts.  Ryan Johnson converted.

In the lead up to half time the game was dominated by Dowdales.  Resilient defending from Emmerson Allen and Greg Hewitt kept them at bay. 

But Liam Paisley managed to cross making the most of the over lap created by Joe Saterthwaite, then Dylan Barrow opened his try scoring account as he burrowed in from acting half back for a 14-6 interval lead.

The second half started similar to the first with an early score being registered.  Walker added his second for Dowdales after stepping infield to wrong foot the cover and improve the position sufficiently enough for Johnson to add his second conversion. 

The try effectively putting the game out of St Benedict’s reach and as such Dowdales began to score at will. 

The huge defensive effort of the first half proved too much and a tired St Benedict’s tried to hand on. The strong running Barrow added two further tries to register his hat-trick. 

For his first he outpaced the cover after slick hands from Johnson and for the next he powered onto a short ball from the ruck. 

Ellis Gillan, who had defended manfully in the first half, got his reward as he dummied and stepped his way over and Jack Gordon finished the scoring as he got on the end of good distribution from the half backs.

The after match presentations were conducted by Regional Development Manager Alan Davidson with Dowdales’ second row Bradley Walker being awarded the Carnegie Player of the Match.

---

Bookmark with: what are these?