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SWINTON LIONS  10 OLDHAM 52

by ROGER HALSTEAD
 
ROUGHYEDS ran in ten tries for the second game in a row to complete their Northern Rail Cup group games on a high note at Sedgley Park. They finished with four wins out of six games and at least one victory against each of their three group opponents, Rochdale, Swinton and Salford City Reds.
 
It gave them second place behind NL1 club City Reds and an automatic progression to the sudden-death stages in which they will play another NL1 club, Whitehaven, at home on Sunday, April 6.
 
The draw was made in Leeds soon after the completion of the last games in the groups and the Roughyeds, making a rare appearance in the last 16 of the Northern Rail, were blessed with home advantage against the Cumbrians.
 
Before then, Steve Deakin's men have three Co-operative NL2 games against Rochdale Hornets at Spotland and against Hunslet and York at Boundary Park -- and they geared themselves up for the big kick-off in the league against their fierce derby rivals on Friday (3pm) with a rock-solid performance which easily tamed the Lions.
 
They scored five tries in each half, dominated in all areas of the field and in all aspects of play and took their points tally in their last two games, both away, to 108.
 
The 52 they ran in at Sedgley Park followed the 56 at they piled up at Aldershot last Sunday in the third round of the Carnegie Challenge Cup against the British Army. And whatever the standard of the opposition, to score so many tries and to amass so many points must surely give the side all the confidence it needs with which to set sail on the voyage of discovery through Co-operative NL2 and, hopefully, beyond.
 
As anticipated, Deaks rotated his squad as much as possible, bringing in Gareth Langley on the right wing and Said Tamghart, Alex Wilkinson and Simeon Hoyle on the bench, Hoyle for his first game in competitive rugby this season after two months out with a damaged Achilles tendon.
 
All four came through with flying colours. Langley didn't have as much opportunity to show up as did the others, but Tamghart marked his return from suspension with his usual high-speed, all-action game; Wilkinson was strong in the second-row and scored two excellent tries wide out on the left; and Hoyle, in two spells, looked as though he had never been away.
 
Deaks had 20 players at his disposal and this time he left out Tomy Goulden, Tommy Grundy and Warren Stevens.
 
Swinton, who were never in the game, were without regular first-team men like Dean Gorton, Rob Line and Bruce Johnson, while two of their most experienced men, Phil Wood and Martin Moana, came off the bench with the damage already done and Roughyeds 22-0 up after 20 minutes.
 
Prop Jason Boults led the Oldham charge from the off and enjoyed a fantastic first spell of nearly half half an hour. He grew in confidence after scoring the opening try on James Coyle's pass in the third minute (almost a replica of the one he scored off Coyle last week) and he went on to enhance his claims that, so far this season, he has been the best and most consistent Roughyeds front-runner on view.
 
Danny Halliwell, in the second row, enjoyed his best performance yet when in the forwards, while Robert Roberts had an outstanding second half as he kept the Roughyeds momentum going up the slope and into the teeth of a strong wind.
 
Phil Joseph and Hoyle, sharing the dummy-half duties, were both on song in their contrasting styles as the pack did more than enough to provide Coyle and Neil Roden with the time and space to dictate play from the middle of the pack.
 
In both halves, down the slope and up it, wind the wind and against it, Oldham dominated possession and position and scored some cracking tries by Boults, Mick Nanyn (2), Halliwell, Marcus St Hilaire, Coyle, Joseph, Wilkinson (2) and Craig Littler.
 
Nanyn chipped in with six goals to take his tally for the game to 20, but perhaps his overall performance will be best remembered for his outstanding piece of covering when he tracked-back to save a certain Lions try just before half time. Chris Hull broke down Swinton's left side and cross-kicked to his support on the inside but as a Lions try looked inevitable, Nanyn came from nowhere to retrieve possession behind his own line and then get out of the in-goal area before he was tackled --- definitely one of the defining moments of the game.
 
Roden was instrumental in setting up first-half tries for Halliwell and St Hilaire, while Halliwell crowned a fine first half with a wide, cut-out pass to the left which gave Nanyn a walk-in at the corner for his second.
 
Paul O'Connor, alert in defence, lively in attack and always working well with St Hilaire as a second full-back, also looked impressive, while St Hilaire gave another sound performance at the back.
 
The Lions, hit when Craig Ashall was carried off  on a stretcher after half an hour, scored one try in each half by Rob Ball and Gary Sykes.
 
But there was no doubting Oldham's all-round supremacy, capped off with three tries in the last eight minutes, one by Craig Littler and two by Wilkinson, whose form in only his second game of the season was something of a revelation.
 
Scorers: Swinton - goal, Hawkyard; tries, Ball, Sykes; Oldham - goals, Nanyn (6); tries, Boults, Nanyn (2), Halliwell, St Hilaire, Coyle, Joseph, Wilkinson (2), Littler.
 
SWINTON: English; Hamilton, Sykes, Hull, Mirfield; Hawkyard, Hulse; Ball, McGovern, Tyrer, Hodson, Bryers, Ashall. Subs: Wood, Moana, Bibey, Hayes.
 
OLDHAM: St Hilaire; Langley, Littler, Nanyn, O'Connor; Roden, Coyle; Boults, Joseph, Mervill, Halliwell, Roberts, Baines. Subs: Tamghart, Robinson, Wilkinson, Hoyle.
Referee: Mr R Hicks (Oldham); Att: 549.