Following the success of two weeks ago when the Colts turned in an impressive outing against the Sheffield Tomahawks, the Bolton Bulldogs travelled to Blackburn RUFC to play the Colts. The Bulldogs were hoping to score a win to open their season, beating their local rival on their home turf while the Colts were trying to capitalise on the momentum generated by their win against the Tomahawks. The Colts, winners of the opening coin toss, elected to defer their choice until the 2nd half, delegating the Bulldogs the opening decision who chose to receive the ball, being tackled around the 30, allowing the Colts defence to follow up their dominating performance of 2 weeks prior. Much akin to the last game, the Colts forced a turnover on the first drive, this time from a leaping interception by FS Phil Hooper, his first of 2 picks on the day. Returning this turnover to around the 25 yard line, Hooper gave the reigns to rookie QB Lawrence Quinn, making his first start at Youth level after a successful Junior career. It is, as it was 2 weeks ago, on this first drive that the Colts open the scoring, running it in this time with offensive captain Eden Quigely, opening his account for the day. The conversion was kicked through by Chris Astley, taking the score to 8-0.

The next Bulldogs drive, Phil Hooper once again picked off the Bolton QB, this time in spectacular fashion, out leaping the Bulldogs receiver and the Colts cornerback to collect his 2nd turnover of the day, capping off his impressive outing. With good field position once again, the offence started out well, but stuttered following a fumble which the Bulldogs recovered. This, however, made the defence more fired up, forcing a fumble for their 3rd consecutive turnover in as many drives, this time with new recruit John Varney recovering a Bulldogs fumble. Benefiting from the field position, the Colts offence converted their chance, leaving the score 14-0 with the conversion to come. With WR Joel Wilson taking over as holder, he not only fielded a high snap, but calmly stood up and passed to Sam Bloomfield for a 2 point conversion.

As the game progressed, Quigley scored twice more, taking his tally on the day to 4 touchdowns and just under 200 yards. Rookie TB Alex Hodson scored from close in again. This was, however, not Hodson’s first trip to the endzone in this game, having a 70 yard touchdown run called back due to a holding call. It was on this score that Astley missed his only PAT attempt of the afternoon, with the kick being blocked by the Bolton defensive line. The defence did, however, atone for Astley’s miscue by scoring a safety, with stand-in defensive lineman Christian Facchin sacking the Bulldogs QB for the score. The Colts defence closed out the scoring with Lee Hilton picking off a pass at around the 30 yard line and running it back for a touchdown, the first time in the 3 year history of the current Colts setup that a defensive player has scored a touchdown, with Astley again slotting over the PAT in order to finish the scoring at 48-0.

The offensive MVP on the day was Lawrence Quinn, who stepped up in only his 2nd game as a rookie to start and lead the Colts offence to a 40 point rout of the Bulldogs defence, the defensive MVP was linebacker Stephen Donaldson-Ellison who never took a play off and was around every tackle made, the special teams MVP was Chris Astley for his near perfect PAT kicking display and the team MVP was Christian Facchin, who’s effort level was difficult to match. A final mention is required for the recipient of the Brick Award, the award for the biggest hit of the game, which went to rookie LB Bradley Callaghan.

The Colts next game is at home to Leeds Varsity on the 17th May at Blackburn RUFC. Check www.wolverineden.com for more details or email Colts head coach, Geoff Leigh at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Report by Ste Czarnecki

Opening the season at Blackburn RUFC, the Lancashire Wolverine Colts welcomed the Sheffield Tomahawks to play the first game of what promises to be an eventful season. For the Colts, this was to be the first youth game for 6 of their starters, but you would not have guessed it as a fan on the sidelines, as the 4 months of training prior to this game had caused the team to gel into one cohesive unit, sacrificing stats for the good of the team. After winning the toss, the Colts chose to defer until the second half, giving the Tomahawks the ball at around the 35 yard line. However, the Colts defence, stout throughout the game, fell on a fumble on the opening play, giving the offence the ball in good field position.

The offence, hoping to capitalise on the field position given to them by the defence, ran the ball on the back of Offensive Captain Eden Quigley, moving downfield steadily, but not without hiccups, brought about by 60 yards of penalties against the Colts on the opening drive alone. They carried on regardless of these penalties and scored on an 8 yard plunge from rookie tailback Alex Hodson. The PAT, however, failed, leaving the score 6-0 to the Colts. In the 2nd quarter, the defence again held, giving the ball to the offence in good field position once again. It would have been better field position if not for a roughing the passer penalty called on an interception by CB Jamie Horsley, who ran the ball down to the 10 only to have the entire play called back.

After getting the ball back, the offence marched the ball down to around the 15 yard line where QB Jonny Glover completed a pass to WR Joel Wilson, who had snuck past the corner and the safety, for the score, bringing the score to 12-0 after the unsuccessful PAT. Following an inspired team talk from Head Coach Geoff Leigh, the team came out loose but focused, considering the 2nd half a new game, with the score back to 0-0. The offence again drove for a score, this time handing off to FB James Littler, who broke numerous tackles on his way to the end zone. The PAT was this time successful, with WR Rihan Malik catching the ball in the end-zone, taking the score to 20-0.

The defence, impressive throughout the day, led by Defensive Captain Kyle Martindale and Team Captain Sam Bloomfield, both of whom were around every tackle made, if not making it. The final score of the game came from Littler once again, who rumbled over from a few yards out, making the game 26-0 after another PAT fail. It is, however, worth noting that although the Sheffield team lost the game, they played the entire game with aggression and spirit hard to match, giving the game their all until the final whistle, with #30 showing hard running and #55 making tackles left right and centre for the Tomahawks defence.

The MVPs for the day were rookie Kyle Martindale for the defence, Jonny Glover and James Littler as co-offensive MVPs, Littler for his 2 TDs and Glover for his 10 completions on the day, one of them going for a TD and the team MVP was Craig ‘Nelly’ Oliphant, who played arguably the finest he ever has, playing iron man football and giving the game his all.

The Wolverine Colts now have a week to prepare before welcoming the Bolton Bulldogs to Blackburn RUFC on Sunday May 3rd. Kick-off for this game will be 11am.

Report by Ste Czarnecki

Meeting halfway at fantastic facilities provided by the University Of Birmingham, the Lancashire Wolverines Colts and the Bristol Aztecs met to take part in a pre-season scrimmage, the first taste of live action for both sides as they prepare for the 2009 BAFL Youth season. The opening drive was taken by the Colts, who moved the ball well on 3rd down on the expert play calling of offensive coordinator Paul Day but ultimately couldn’t turn the drive into points, turning the ball over to the Aztecs offence.  On further drives, strong running from the ever-impressive Eden Quigley and rookie running back Alex Hodson as well as a key catch from Joel Wilson kept the ball moving.

The Aztecs offence, simple but executed precisely, were originally stopped by the Colts defence under the veteran leadership of Sam Bloomfield, with strong tackling from Bloomfield and stand out rookie Kyle Martindale, but over the time of the game wore down the defence, particularly the shifty running of #2, until they broke off a huge play, gaining over 50 yards on a handoff to #21 that would have gone for a touchdown if it wasn’t for the brilliant angle taken by Colts FS Phil Hooper. The Colts defence, revitalised by Hooper’s play, pulled itself together to stop the Aztecs’ array of running backs from breaking the goal line. The teams traded possessions until the Colts offence tried and failed to go for it on 4th down inside their own 20, leaving the defence the tough task of another goal-line stand. A valiant effort by the Colts defence came to no avail as the Aztecs’ relentless running game had them crossing from 2 yards out, the only points of the game after a failed 2 point conversion.

The Colts offensive MVP for the day was rookie Kurtis Delafield, whose blocking on the day was outstanding and the defensive MVP was the aforementioned Kyle Martindale for his brilliant tackling helped to slow the Aztecs offence throughout the day. The team MVP was Chris Astley who played both sides of the ball tirelessly and with a complete effort. Again, thanks to Bristol for travelling to Birmingham and a big thank you to Birmingham University for allowing both teams to use their fantastic facilities.

Report by Ste Czarnecki