Drawn in a group with seven-a-side specialists Stonyhurst and the hosts Arnold, along with holders Liverpool College and local rivals Bury, a place in the Plate competition beckoned.

A shock 12-0 half-time lead in the opening match with Stonyhurst was allowed to slip, succumbing 19-12 in the end but the lessons were learned.

The next match saw a hard-fought draw with Arnold finishing 7-7 and now qualification for the main competition was now a possibility if better results than Arnold could be gained against Bury and Liverpool College. First up were the holders, who were a shadow of the previous year's victorious side. A hat trick of tries from Josh Grimshaw helped the team to a 31-5 win and a 10-try romp against Bury saw them qualify second behind Stonyhurst.

This brought a tough semi-final draw against the very impressive King Edwards Lytham and in a repeat of last year's Plate semi-final Bolton emerged victorious as Sam Chisnell, Sam Higgins and Henry Thompson all made the most of errors to ensure a 19-14 win.

The pace of the games took its toll in the final against Lytham High School where three errors gifted Lytham three tries and despite a strong second-half performance they lost 26-10.

Captain Alex Davidson grew in stature as the tournament progressed and Simon Riley was worthy of mention as he played every minute of every game covering almost every blade of grass. Matthew Bell, Will Roberts and Ahmed Bhailok all made significant contributions on the way to the final. Perhaps the loss at the final hurdle hurt Matthew Stansfield most as his unstinting efforts deserved the ultimate prize.

Group A

Stonyhurst       19         Bolton                         14

Arnold              7          Bolton                          7

Bolton              31        Liverpool College         5

Bolton              52        Bury                             0

Semi-final      

Bolton              19        King Edwards                14

Final

Lytham HS        26        Bolton                          10