South Lancs & Cheshire Division 1
Sale F.C. 8 Bowdon 39
Sale fielded nine changes from the side that defeated Hoylake the previous week and although they held the visitors for the first twenty minutes, Bowdon then dominated matters for a good proportion of the match. An exchange of penalties in the opening ten minutes was the precursor to a solid Bowdon performance led by stand off Capewell whose deep kicks into the Sale “22” was the base from which their pack launched many a charge for the Sale line. Bowdon’s first try came from a line out in the home “22” and the second after 25 minutes saw Capewell barge over from close range and add the conversion for a 15-3 lead. Neat work again by Capewell, with a grubber kick through the Sale defence, allowed second row Landman to touch down and the stand off again added the extras. Sale had a couple of penalty chances late in the half but both went wide as Bowdon reached half time comfortably ahead 22-3.
Capewell added a second penalty early in the second half, and two further Bowdon tries within five minutes of each other, both converted by the stand off, put the visitors 39-3 in front and we were looking at a heavy home defeat.
Sale put in a great effort in the last quarter of the match without reward until a fine break on the half way line by Tom Bullough split the Bowdon defence and the Sale stand off finished off a 50 metre run with the try of the game.
Neil Thallon