MOORENDS-Thorne Marauders Merit team powered into the Rugby League Conference Merit final against a Sheffield Forgers outfit that contained the bulk of their full first team.
The Marauders opened the scoring very early, on the back of a devastatin
g defensive set that contained the Forgers deep inside their own half.
Danny Hornsby, Karl Taylor and Jamie Moore took the ball up before Paul Hopkinson, Martin Rowlands and Shane Southgate, moved the ball quickly back to the left.
Southgate found Cliffton Richardson who crashed through the visiting defence to take the first score, 4-0.
Sheffield hit back five minutes later after some very slick passing brought them within striking distance.
Joe Howe scooted from acting half, catching the home defence flat footed to record the Forgers first points, 4-4.
The introduction of Trev Lake from the bench tipped the game in the Marauders favour.
Devastating running by the big forward saw him punching through the Forgers before off-loading to the supporting Paul Hopkinson, who then turned the ball back inside for Karl Taylor to give the Marauders the lead, Konrad Hanson converted, 10-4.
Paul Hopkinson's clever half-back play brought up a try from a father and son combination, Hopkinson's short ball to Ernie Lake saw him punch through turning the ball back inside to his son Trevor, 14-4.
Excellent footwork and a couple of dummies from Shane Southgate opened up the Forgers on the half-way line.
Southgate raced 20 metres before sending Dean Wright the remainder of the distance to go in under the posts, Konrad Hanson converting, 20-4.
Hanson stretched the lead with the last kick of the half with a 35-metre penalty for off-side, 22-4 at half-time.
Moorends came out for the second half and received the ideal start, a big hit by Greg Neil dislodged the ball in the tackle.
Young 16-year-old Rhys Bailey gathered the ball and raced 60 metres going over under the posts, Hanson converted, 28-4.
The Marauders made a hash of the kick-off allowing the ball to bounce and go out.
From the drop out the Forgers attacked to their left before using very quick hands going back to the left allowing Turnell to crash over, Dan Gray converted, 28-10.
Moorends again pushed further in front when Cliffton Richardson danced over on 50 minutes giving Hanson an easy kick, 34-10.
The next 15 minutes turned into a real arm wrestle. Rhys Bailey, Greg Neil, Danny Hornsby and Cliffton Richardson for the Marauders and Sam Turnell, Jimmy Holmes and Vinnie Caldwell for the Forgers, all made major contributions in defence and both sets of half-backs probed each other's defensive lines.
Ironically it was a set of penalties for off-side that piggy-backed the Forgers deep inside the Marauders half to score, 34-16.
Again the Marauders hit back.
The full article contains 496 words and appears in Thorne and District Gazette newspaper.
