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The Vase Finals pitch after the posts had been restored
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The 2008 ‘Blacksticks Blue Junior Plate & Vase Finals’ day, hosted by Manchester Rugby Club, opened to a thick carpet of snow across both main pitches at their Cheadle ground.
Click here for DEPhoto's images of the day
As if that was not enough for the administrators to deal with, overnight vandalism saw the destruction of a set of posts. The local volunteer ‘groundforce’, led by Lancashire Junior Chairman, and Manchester’s Chair of Mini & Youth Rugby, Iain Stewart coped admirably and a prompt 11.00am start saw Bolton take a ten-point lead in the Under 13s Vase Finals. Blackburn grabbed a try back, but with Bolton’s coach Mark Robinson admitting to being more nervous than his players, his charges took the trophy with a 20 – 5 victory.
This festival day, now under the new sponsorship of Butlers Farmhouse Cheeses of Inglewhite, near Preston, is a fine opportunity for the lesser lights to shine on a big stage. The Plate and Vase finalists emerge through the middle and lower tier of the season-long competition, but with annual trophies to treasure. The Blacksticks Blue Junior Cup Finals are at Sefton on Sunday April 27th, when Ormskirk are aiming to complete the first-ever clean sweep, successive trophies from Under 13s to Under 16s. Their match against Preston Grasshoppers will be the highlight of the 20th Lancashire Cup Finals.
A younger Ormskirk side had fought through to the Plate Finals, and a brace of Olly Hogan tries set the Under 13s on their way to a 29 – 5 victory over Rochdale. The west Lancashire side featured in all four age-grade finals, but in the Under 14s Plate, Vale of Lune skipper Lewis Arbon dominated an excellent match, the Lancaster club defeating Ormskirk 17 – 0. Across on the Vase Finals pitch, Tarleton ran in 34 points against Southport which like all the other 13s and 14s finals, was controlled by a team of eight rising junior referees.
Watched by advisors in the grandstand and with RFU Referee Development officer Paul Renton filming their performances, their on-field decisions were dissected through a ‘Ref-Link’ by Brian Stott and Peter Hughes, a scrutiny like never before. Without exception, all eight aspiring whistlers gave flawless performances before assisting the senior referees in the Under 15s and 16s finals.
Both Under 15s’ matches ended 12 – 10, the Junior Plate ending in Sefton’s hands against Manchester, and the Junior Vase falling Ormskirk’s way against Sedgley Park.
 Snow was falling again as the two Under 16s’ matches kicked off but, with visibility failing, Ormskirk’s last chance for silverware through their Under 16s ‘reserve’ squad failed at the hands of Littleborough. In winning the Blacksticks Blue Junior Vase, by a 14 – 8 margin, ‘Boro produced a magnificent performance in a gritty, exciting match. Scrum half. Ben Joiner was singled out for praise as winner of the ‘John Garvey Man of the Match’ trophy.
 It was ‘nip and tuck’ in the Plate final as Rochdale took the lead against Liverpool Collegiate, only for Collegiate to pull it back to 12-12 at the interval whistle.
Both scrum halves, captains Joey Luttrull and Daniel Oliver, got on the score sheet, but in a nail biting second half a dramatic interception from inside his own 22 gained Ryan Risley the winning try for Collegiate, the ‘Blacksticks Blue Junior Plate’ for 2007/08 and the ‘Mike Tetley Man of the Match’ trophy.
Saying “Cheese” at Lancashire’s 2008 Blacksticks Blue Junior Plate & Vase Finals...
Junior Referees: Adam Carter, Rhys Chadwick, Richard Curtis, Mason Davies, Sam Hardy, Kieron Henry, James McSporran & Paul Williams, plus Senior Referees: Nick Christodoulou, Mike Docherty, Dan Gwizdek & Dan Taylor, with former international referee, Peter Hughes.
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HOLDERS: |
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See note below re: returning trophies (engraved & polished!) |
| JUNIOR PLATE |
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at Manchester, Sunday 6th April |
| U13s |
MANCHESTER |
77 |
11.00 |
Rochdale |
5 |
v |
29 |
Ormskirk |
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| U14s |
BLACKBURN |
78 |
12.15 |
Ormskirk |
0 |
v |
17 |
Vale of Lune |
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| U15s |
MANCHESTER |
79 |
13.30 |
Sefton |
12 |
v |
10 |
Manchester |
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| U16s |
MANCHESTER |
80 |
14.45 |
Liverpool Collegiate |
19 |
v |
12 |
Rochdale |
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| JUNIOR VASE |
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at Manchester, Sunday 6th April |
| U13s |
ROCHDALE |
81 |
11.00 |
Blackburn |
5 |
v |
20 |
Bolton |
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| U14s |
MANCHESTER |
82 |
12.15 |
Southport |
0 |
v |
34 |
Tarleton |
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| U15s |
WEST PARK |
83 |
13.30 |
Ormskirk |
12 |
v |
10 |
Sedgley Park |
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| U16s |
BLACKPOOL |
84 |
14.45 |
Littleborough |
14 |
v |
8 |
Ormskirk 2 |
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The above list will turn
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Squad or positional team lists are reuired by NO LATER than Wednesday 26th March for the Junior Plate & Vase matches.
Please use one of the following options:
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BLUE as arrangements
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to return the trophies
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are received.
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Postional List… |
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Squad List… |
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| UNDER 14s |
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Click for Report & Images |
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| BOWL |
FINAL WINNERS |
85 |
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Sefton |
30 |
v |
5 |
Bury |
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Would Managers and/or Coaches please use the team sheet options (above) to email the team/squad lists through! Registration Numbers must be listed for all players and, on Finals day, the Registration Cards must be available for inspection at least 30 minutes prior to kick off.
Congratulations to the finalists, sixteen teams from twelve clubs winning through to the Junior Plate & Vase Finals at Manchester.
IMPORTANT NOTE
To enable the production of the match programme for both Finals Days, it is important that squad lists for the Plate and Vase finals are submitted BY EMAIL (NOT by fax) no later than Wednesday 26th March. The Cup finalists should submit no later than Wednesday 16th April.
The team names should be shown as ('John Smith'), the listing being the traditional pattern of 15 - 9, then 1 - 8, and 16 onwards (or Replacements from), or a full list (as before, in the style of 'John Smith', not J. or JOHN SMITH, nor SMITH, JOHN, etc).
PLEASE DO NOT USE CAPITALS.
Playing colours and the name of the team captain should be included.
No more than 25 names will be included on a team page, plus up to four coaches, a physio or first aider and a team manager.
In addition to a trophy, (and the holders are asked to ensure that trophy won in 2007 is returned both engraved AND polished), there will be 25 medals for players and/or coaches on both sides of each final. No further medals are or will be made available.
