First Half
Chapel off to a slow start letting Bowdon into their half and mauling it over the line for the game’s opening try, which was converted, 7-0 Bowdon. After the score Chapel got into gear working hard to secure the ball and make hits defensively. This let to Bowden making mistakes under pressure, which let to the first Holmes Chapel try loose ball on the ground picked up and taken over the line by Harry Dyson, converted to tie the game 7-7. For the Blues second try, Chapel spread the ball wide with Luke Cheetham exploiting the space and breaking tackles allowing him to make it across the line, bringing the score to 12-7 Chapel. Joe Foulkes took a knock at the bottom of a ruck resulting in a blood replacement in Lewis Polles to give them fresh legs going in to the second half.
Second Half
The second half started with more substitutions with Joe Baskerville going off for Joe Maddock and also Mark McEnaney off for Conor Gavin. These fresh legs gave Chapel the boost they needed to get another score, Tom Chambers star of Vicars Son, over the try line after breaking tackles centre field, 17-7. Bowdon then closing the gap with a converted try to bring the score to 17-14. Tom Chambers was then taken off for Mark McEnaney to get back on. Chapel’s heads dropped leading to mistakes which allowed Bowdon the chance to take the lead scoring and converting a try in the 70th minute, 21-17 Bowdon. Chapel kept working until they regained the lead with another try from Luke Cheetham, to make his second of the game. Assisted by an offload by Conor Gavin and after breaking some tackles Luke made it across the line, 22-21 Chapel. In the end it was all in vain Bowdon getting a penalty in the last two minutes which was kicked through the sticks, 24-22 Bowdon. Bowdon held out for the last minutes of the game to win it.