n BURY Broncos suffered a 58-14 defeat at the hands of Chorley Panthers in their first home game of the North West Interim season.

The Broncos have regularly played and beaten Chorley over recent years but it was a very different Panthers side which visited Philips High this time.

Many youngsters who started as under-eights a decade ago stepped up to open age level and proved too fit and too quick for the Broncos. They scored three quick tries before the Broncos hit back when Mark Brocklehurst broke onto a off-load from Matthew Fish to score in the corner. Mike Robinson went through a gap to further reduce the arrears and, when Fish crashed over, it looked like the Broncos were back in the hunt.

But injuries took their toll in the second half, leaving Bury with just 12 fit players at the end, by which time Chorley had romped to a comfortable victory.

Club development officer Mike Palin said: “Today was tough but it shows us what can be achieved at a club with juniors and bringing them into the open age game. Chorley have every age group now and we are just getting our own under-10s and u-8s going so it’s what we are aiming for too. We’ll bounce back and our open age team will be winning soon.”

Anyone interested in playing or being involved, in either open age or junior sides, can contact Mike Palin on 07834686374 or by emailing buryopenagerlfc@hotmail.co.uk