Guiseley Rangers......6

West Bowling.............22

Guiseley Rangers began the season with a friendly game against West Bowling, recently promoted to the Conference League.

Rangers will be playing in the First Division of the Pennine League this coming season and this fixture had been arranged at the request of West Bowling.

Remembering the close cup-tie in which they beat Rangers by 12 -8 last October they looked forward to a pre-season match, no doubt to try out their team against some strong opposition in the form of Guiseley Rangers.

The match took place at Nunroyd Avenue and although Rangers were beaten this was not a true reflection of the closeness of the game.

West Bowling did, however, make the most of their chances while Rangers were guilty of dropping passes when they were in a scoring position.

Stuart Kay, a new signing for Rangers, made a strong impression. His tackling at centre three-quarter could not be faulted and he showed strength in attack.

Rangers' forwards played well and tackled strongly throughout the match with Alex White and Craig McLaughlin ran strongly at the opposition and frequently caused problems for the visitors defence, needing three players to bring them down.

Rangers' player coach, Tony Smith distributed the ball well from the stand-off half position and placed some useful kicks, driving the visitors back into their own half.

West Bowling started the match with the slope and were quickly on the attack but Rangers' tackling was excellent and succeeded in keeping the visitors from crosing the line.

Sustained pressure by West Bowling was relieved when the ball was dropped and the resulting scrum enabled Rangers to clear their line and take play into the visitors half when Tony Smith kicked well upfield.

Another good kick sent West Bowling back and Rangers had a scoring chance but Alex White was just beaten to the touch down by a visitor's defender.

Rangers were first on the scoreboard when Darren Clayton sent out a perfect pass to send the Guiseley full-back Stuart Patchett in for a good try, converted by Stuart Kay.

Six minutes later West Bowling's scrum-half Dean Garside scored a try which was unconverted.

The visitors were quickly on the attack again and a break through by their winger gave them another chance to score but an excellent tackle by Alex White saved the day.

In the 30th minute the West Bowling hooker, Glen Barraclough, went over for a try converted by Dean Garside.

A tremendous head on tackle by Rangers' John Beanland saved an almost certain score when the visitors' centre had a clear run to the line. At half-time Rangers trailed 10-6.

Rangers played down the slope in the second-half and as in the first session play was fluctuating from end to end but then a tremendous kick downfield was chased by both Stuart Kay and Craig Warrington. The ball rolled over the dead ball line before either could touch-down.

Two further tries by West Bowling gave the match in the visitors' favour, both Jason Wood and Dean Garside scoring converted tries. These were both breakaway tries and against the run of play but these further 12 points gave the score a healthy look in the visitors' favour.

A good game played in the best traditions of Rugby League. Man -of-the-Match was Alex White.

Coach Tony Smith praised his team's efforts, particularly in their tackling but said that dropped passes contributed to the team's defeat. However, for the team's first game of the season Rangers had shown plenty of spirit.

Guiseley Rangers have at long last secured a sound base in having been invited to share the premises of Guiseley Consevative Club.

The club has been closed for the past 12 months but the invitation to share has been taken up by Rangers and will undoubtedly prove to be a great asset. Rangers will now be able to attract members, which will certainly be a step forward.

Yarnbury win

the Rangers sevens

GUISELEY Rangers staged their annual sevens tournamenty on Saturday and the victors were Yarnbury RUFC.

Six teams entered the competition from Guiseley Rangers, Aireborough RUFC, Morley Borough, Birkenshaw, Yarnbury and a team raised by Rangers' former player Eddie Cousins named Eddie's Heroes.

The two rugby union teams from Aireborough and Yarnbury made a big impression. Yarnbury pleased the spectators with the quality of their rugby and they went on to beat Rangers 32-16 in the final, the first time they had entered the tournament.

Yarnbury's defence was excellent conceding only 20 points in the tournament .

In the semi-finals Yarnbury beat Aireborough 30-4 and Guiseley Rangers beat Birkenshaw 20-10.

In the semi-final Rangers were unlucky to lose Alex White with a bad shoulder injury. He has figured with distinction in the Guiseley team and his strong running was badly missed in the final.

The final was played at full speed with the lead changing hands three times.

Guiseley scored four tries and although Simon Parker failed to convert any all but one was from the touchline.

Rangers played some attractive rugby with Craig McLoughlin, Simon Garbutt and Simon Parker putting all they had into the match.

All the Rangers' players acquitted themselves well and it would be difficult to choose the best player but McLoughlin would just have the edge.

Try scorers in the final were: Yarnbury - Neil Pennington, Leon Smith, Simon Briers and Stephen Read (3) - he also kicked four goals.

Rangers - Simon Garbutt (2), Tony Smith and Jon Beanland.

Stephen Read of Yarnbury was adjudged the Player-of-the-Tournament.

Winners and runners-up were presented with awards by Tom Rawlinson, Chairman of Guiseley Rangers.

A junior Festival of Rugby league will take place at Rangers' Nunroyd Avenue ground on Sunday, August 22, kicking-off at 11 am.

The festival will be for Under-9s and Under-10s and will attract teams from Halifax, Bradford, Huddersfield and more locally. Hopefully the weather will be an improvement on last year's festival and the club looks forward to some strong local support.

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