Following the highly successful ‘Grand Marquee’ week which raised several thousand pounds for Charity all fell quiet on the rugby front in Hillside last Saturday as neither the Firsts, Seconds or Ladies had games, and a lack lustre Thirds meekly exited the Cup.

It was left to Southport Colts to raise the volume again on Sunday, and didn’t they just! The team is the toast of Waterloo Road as they overcame counterparts and close rivals Liverpool Collegiate Colts 27-19 to secure the title.

https://www.colts-rugby.org.uk/coltsleague.nsf/URL/TBYE-AP9JM3/

No match report forthcoming unfortunately but a picture tells a thousand stories and u15 prodigy Joe Stewart was again on hand to capture the action. If Joe is half as good a rugby player as photographer we have another potential star coming through the ranks! His album can be viewed at

https://www.facebook.com/Jrstewartphotography/?hc_ref=ARR9wySpYRjjlS9XxMSfOIkU62MiBA20lE01R4SXZC368sv-O2xPlqS-fId7bFyB_yM

The Colts leagues will now be reseeded and Southport will move up to pit their wits at the highest level of competition at this age group in the North West for the rest of the season. With the A league likely to include powerhouses such as Lymm, Chester, Sale, Warrington and possibly Caldy this is going to huge test of their credentials, commencing on Sunday 5th November.

But if this age group continues to progress at the rate of knots they’ve shown this, and in previous seasons, they need fear no one especially as their success so far has been achieved by only playing three of their games at home. As well as Collegiate victories were secured against Penrith (19-15) and Winnington Park (36-0) whilst the four games on the road yielded wins at Crewe & Nantwich (29-14), Anselmians Park (17-10) and West Park (19-7). The only set back was a narrow reverse at Littleborough (14-19)

Delighted manager Martyn Simes was justifiably delighted with every single player in the large squad each of whom played their part as well and commented on the “Great support from the parents and the club with a big thanks going to our great coaching team Shane Cook, Andy Corlett, Sean Gibney, Nick Holden, Miles Johnson and SRFC Director of Rugby Mike Dale”

A quiet weekend at Waterloo Road is expected this weekend with the Firsts at New Brighton RFC looking to build on the last gasp win against Sefton a couple of weeks ago.
With players availability chopping & changing all the time the latest team selection (Friday am) is:

Bert White
Joe Mawdsley (C)
Jamie Church
Sam Cross
Jack Boyce
Mike Dale
Chris Cunningham
Kristian Griffiths
Dan Whalen
Charlie Attis
Tom Hill
Daniel Banks
Dan Cresswell
Lawrence Abood
Jake Addison Mann

Cameron Williams
Tom Johnson
TBC

The Thirds will hope to put last weekend’s nightmare behind them at Widnes though even with the Seconds having no game numbers are again frustratingly stretched to the limit with the squad on Thursday standing at 17 as follows:

Graham Riley
Brian Henry (C)
Tom Johnson
Will Hughes
Mark Garner-Jones
Col Toohey
Adrian Jones
David Atherton
Jason Keating
Chris Drescher
Gareth Lang
Harry Hewitt
Bill Mulholland
Michael Blinston
Chris Whalley
Graham Whyte
Daniel Lovett
Jimmy Thomas

However this may have since changed and if anyone with a pulse is available please contact Jason Keating. Who'd be in charge of selection?

On Sunday the second placed Ladies will hope not to get the chop at league leaders Barnsley but performances and results so far this season auger well.