For the second week running, Moor were involved in a league game against opposition who also had a 100% record in North Lancashire 1. This time the match was a local derby at Old Bedians and the Green Lane side had to make a last minute rearrangement to their pack due to the late arrival of one of their front-row forwards.

This adjustment was to have a huge bearing on the first half as, from the kick-off, the home side dominated all aspects of forward play and in the first 20 minutes, the game rarely left the Moor half of the field. Time and again Bedians came within a fraction of scoring, but resolute defence kept them out. So much was their forward domination, especially in the scrums, that Moor were forced into conceding a number of penalties, but this superiority perhaps blinkered the home side’s approach to the game as, instead of opting for kickable penalties, they kept attempting to force their way over the try line, but without any success. Moor eventually weathered the storm and towards the end of the half their dangerous backs began to see more of the ball and in injury time, centre Petr Stourac made a telling break and fed left wing Ivan Smetana who ran in a try under the posts, converted by fly-half Martin Shelley, to give Moor a fortuitous 7-0 lead at the interval.

The half-time break enabled Moor to re-adjust their pack and for the first time were able to compete on equal terms up front and within 5 minutes had doubled their score as Stourac again fed Smetana for his second try, converted by Shelley. From the re-start, Bedians won a lineout on the Moor 5-metre line and a dummy scissors move by their centres produced a converted try under the posts. Moor re-instated their 14-point lead a few minutes later when Stourac again tore through the opposition defence and fed right wing Paul Stonehouse who cut inside to score under the posts, Shelley once more converting. Moor continued to make up for their poor first half showing as Shelley extended the lead with an excellent penalty kick from the opposition 10-metre line, but Bedians managed to reduce the deficit with their second converted try from a quickly taken tap penalty on the Moor 5-metre line. The Green Lane side wrapped the game up with a few minutes to go when they put pressure on an opposition scrum and scrum-half Felipe Silva pounced on the loose ball to race in at the corner for a try, converted by Shelley. The latter had the opportunity to round off an excellent afternoon with the boot as he just narrowly failed with a penalty kick in injury time and the final whistle meant a comfortable 31-14 win to Moor, one that seemed unlikely during the first 25 minutes of the game. With the only other side with a 100% record losing, Moor now head their division outright.

Moor host Ashton-u-Lyne next Saturday in a league game, k.o. 3:00pm.

The 2^nd XV totally out-classed an ageing Manchester 4ths at Green Lane 58-5, to move up to third place in their league. Johnny Newman bagged himself 4 tries and 2 conversions in his last match for Moor, ably assisted by a hat-trick from Stuart Heighway and a try each for Chris Novak, Adrian Reynolds and the evergreen Phil Butcher, with 2 conversions from Mariusz Kondratowicz.