BUFFALOES DEMOLISH GALLANT CENTURIONS
Bramley Buffaloes 94 (50) v Carlisle Centurions 0 (0)
Bramley Buffaloes recorded their biggest win of the season when they comprehensively demolished a gallant Carlisle Centurions, 94-0 at a sun drenched Stanningley on Saturday. Stars of the show were Aidy Manley with four try’s, Jon Nicholls with three try’s and Paul Drake with a personal haul of 30 points.
Mark Butterill handed a debut to second rower Robin Wilkes whilst at the same time welcoming back Alex White and Simon Speight. Danny O’Connor, Antony Ward and Steven Gill stepped down from last Week. Carlisle made a number of changes themselves from the team that lost heavily at home two weeks ago to Featherstone.
Bramley started positively and never looked back. Aidy Manley crossed for his first try on four minutes in the corner and then two minutes later he was on the end of a long cut-out pass from Paul Drake and crossed again. On 12 minutes a rampaging run from evergreen front rower Chris Gardner took Bramley deep into Carlisle territory and on the back of that a Drake chip over a static defence was collected by winger Nick Fontaine who crossed for a try. Drake converted from touch.
Bramley then ran in three more try’s in the space of three minutes to effectively finish the game as a contest. First Graham Harrison raced 40 metres to score after his speed and good footwork took him through a couple of weak tackles in the centre of the field, then Manley completed his hat-trick on 17 minutes after great inter-play between Flynn, McGann and Manley, lastly, Paul Drake collected his own chip kick to score unopposed. 32-0. Robin Wilkes on debut was causing all sorts of trouble with his strong running and deft off-loads. Carlisle had some respite from the onslaught as they had some possession for the first time in the game on 20 minutes, unfortunately against a rock solid defence they made no impression.
Good quick passing saw Matthew Booth go over for his first try for the club on 29 minutes and this was quickly followed by Andy McGann running onto the ball at pace and going through a yawning gap in the Carlisle defensive line to score. Another strong Wilkes break saw him off-load to the supporting Jon Nicholls to score, finally Paul Drake added a penalty on the stroke of half-time to bring up the 50-0 scoreline.
Early Carlisle possession at the start of the second half was squandered and another strong run from Wilkes again created space for supporting players to exploit. A Drake cross field kick was palmed back by Nick Fontaine, good hands from Scott Pendlebury put Robin Wilkes through a gap and over for a very deserved try. Aidy Manley registered his fourth try on 46 minutes with a strong weaving run, 3 minutes later Nicholls scored a superb try after terrific passing between Pendlebury, Flynn and Nicholls created an opening for him. Carlisle then had 3 back-to-back sets of six but where still unable to find a way through the Buffaloes defence. Another Drake kick saw Fontaine put Jon Nicholls over for his hat-trick try on 59 minutes.
Further try’s then followed from Richard Leese as he went over from close range, John Elliker followed shortly afterwards and then Matthew Booth crossed again. The final try went to Nick Fontaine when Drake kicked from the base of then scrum on half way and Fontaine won the race for the ball.
Mark Butterill paid tribute to the Carlisle team afterwards for their efforts and he picked out centre Tom Armstrong for praise. On his own team’s performance he was pleased with Robin Wilkes debut and the contribution from Paul Drake. He added that he was pleased that they had stuck to his game plan, done lots of things well and had eradicated the growing number of penalties against them, as well as keeping Carlisle scoreless.
See below for important change in fixtures information.
Game star: Robin Wilkes had an outstanding debut, he ran the ball in strongly and was always looking to make an off-load, however Paul Drake pulled all the strings in the middle of the pitch. He contributed 30 points as well as creating numerous try’s with his astute kicking.
Game breaker: Aidy Manley completed his hat-trick within the first 17 minutes of the game, there was no way back for the Centurions after that
Bramley Buffaloes: 1. Andy McGann, 2. Nick Fontaine, 3.Matthew Booth , 4.Aidy Manley, 5. Shaun Flynn, 6. Paul Drake, 7. Scott Pendlebury, 8. Chris Gardner, 9. Graham Harrison 10. Simon Speight, 11. Jim Shuttleworth, 12. Robin Wilkes, 13. Jon Nicholls, Subs (all used) 14. Richard Hulme, 15. John Elliker, 16. Richard Leese, 17. Alex White
Try’s: Manley (4, 6, 17 & 46), Nicholls (33, 49 & 59), Fontaine (12 & 77), Booth (29 & 71), Harrison (14), Drake (19), McGann (31), Wilkes (42), Leese (66), Elliker (69)
Goals: Drake 13/18
Carlisle Centurions: 1. Ellis Little, 2. Aidan Day, 3. Tom Armstrong, 4. James Sabderson, 5. Craig Atkinson, 6. George Graham, 7. Craig Brierley, 8. Ryan Johnson, 9. Carl Barnes, 10. Sean Richardson, 11. James Field, 12. Tony Palmer, 13. Gary Graham (all used) 14. Steve Potter, 15. Dennis Bibby.
Sin-Binned: None
Dismissed: None
Half-time: 50-0
Final score: 94-0
Referee: Neil Underwood
Man of the Match:
Bramley Buffaloes: Paul Drake
Carlisle Centurions: Tom Armstrong
Next game: Saturday 20 June 2009
Competition: RLCN
Opponents: Warrington Wizards
Venue: Home
Kick-off: 2.30 pm
More Information: http://www.bramley-rlfc.co.uk/
Important Fixture Information:
Bramley Buffaloes will play Gateshead Storm at home on Thursday 24 June 2009, kick-off 8.00 pm.