Geener hails ‘massive’ result

Paul Geener: great start to his Saddleworth coaching career

RUGBY: SADDLEWORTH Rangers hit the ground running in the Kingstone Press National Conference League.

In the only Division Two fixture to go ahead, the Shaw Hall Bank Road outfit defeated hosts Dewsbury Celtic 20-10. With victory over Waterhead Warriors in the Napier Windows Standard Cup seven days’ earlier, Paul Geener couldn’t have asked for a better start to his Rangers coaching career.

“The lads deserve an enormous amount of credit,” said Geener of the success at Dewsbury. “It was a massive result. It’s a tough place to go and not many teams come away with a win from there.

“The players were so determined. Dewsbury had four or five penalties on our line when it was 10-10, but we held out. We even had the likes of Mick Diveney, Dale Lowe, Josh Brown and Matt Fogerty missing, so it was a great effort.”

With man of the match Ethan Langhorn pulling the strings from full-back, Rangers stormed into an 10-0 lead by the midway point of the first half. Simon Parrish and Danny Bowker went over for the visitors in the 13th and 18th minutes. Ben Whitehead added a conversion.

Dewsbury hit back with two tries of their own from Richard Tillotson, who touched down three minutes before the break, and Danny Crabtree, who dived in 10 minutes after the restart. Matty Sheridan kicked a goal.

Rangers regrouped, and sealed an opening-day victory thanks to a James Whalley try and a brace of Whitehead penalties.