In the regional final of the RFU National Bowl Knockout Competition, Bury Under-17 Colts hosted Moortown, from Leeds, with a place in the national finals up for grabs.

The visitors took the lead on nine minutes courtesy of a penalty.

However, the maturing young Bury side did not panic and took the lead after a try from left-wing Rose. From a set piece move, Rose made the initial break and, a couple of phases later, was on hand to make a difficult opportunity look easy to finish off a good sequence of play. Fly-half Smith added the conversion.

Bury dominated in most areas of play and had the bulk of possession and extended their lead 20 minutes later.

It was Rose again who crossed the line, this time fed from Millington who created enough space for his winger. Rose outpaced the covering prop with ease and Smith added the extras to give Bury a 14-3 lead.

Man-of-the-match Rose was also instrumental in the final score of the half by exerting pressure on a probing kick by Smith. A more favourable bounce of the ball might have seen him cross the line himself, but he did enough to cause defensive chaos and it was tight-head Green who capitalised with a try in the final minute of the half. Another great conversion from Smith gave Bury a deserved, 21-3 lead.

The visitors, though, were the dominant side in the second half and got themselves back into the game with two well-worked tries of their own, to give a scoreline of 21-15 after a thrilling and tense finale.

Better decision making by the visitors might have reaped more rewards, but Bury’s defence held firm.

Bury progress to the national semi-final where they will play the winners from the Midlands Division. The match will be held at Doncaster RUFC on April 27.