A lovely sunny day at Saddleworth in the beautiful setting of Churchill Playing Fields set the scene for a very physical competitive game against Chorley Panthers

No score for the first 25 minutes. Both teams defending superbly.  However, Saddleworth dominated and put the pressure on Chorley with several repeat sets and finally found a way through.  Newcomer Jake Coxon showed power and determination to force his way over the line.  Try converted by Ben White.  A second try soon followed, Lewis Galbraith making a break and setting up Scott Booth on the wing with a great offload.  Try converted. A Chorley player was sin binned just before half time.   Half time score 12 - 0.

The second half saw a period of domination by the Chorley lads with Saddleworth not seeing much ball.  Chorley scored 4 unanswered  tries to take the lead, the score 12 - 20.  Saddleworth showed their determination to pull back the score.  Ben White spotting a gap to sidestep his way over the line, making sure he put the ball down near to the posts for an easy conversion.  Lewis Galbraith then took a clever offload from Jack Connor to score what turned out to be the winning try

A great advertisement for rugby league with both teams putting in impressive displays for the first game of the season.