In a highly entertaining contest Soap succumbed to the first home defeat of the year against a strong Ince Rose Bridge side from Wigan. The game was a closely fought affair with both teams having periods of superiority, but it was the visitors who demonstrated that extra cutting edge at key moments of the game to take the spoils.

In a tough uncompromising opening spell, Soap piled on pressure with repeat sets where Billy Sheen and then Phil Brazendale came close before the excellent Jack Reid dummied over and converted his own try to post a 6 point lead after 8 minutes.

Soap were dominating this period of the game and looked set to extend their lead following a great Luke Walker break, but the final pass was misplaced and the score never came. This seemed to inspire the visitors who produced a devastating 8 minute spell of their own with three unanswered tries. First, second row Martin Butler somehow managed to find the line through a mass of poor defence, then the impressive stand off Daniel Cassidy raced clear from 35 metres 2 minutes later, with Butler taking a neat short ball at the line to cross again shortly after to leave the home side shell shocked. Only one of the tries was converted.

Captain Jack Reid steadied the ship following a period of much needed decent defence with a carbon copy 'show and go' to walk in for another try that he converted to go in at half time 12-14 down.

Soap came out of the blocks in the second period on the front foot with good possession and territory, but a moment of magic from the Ince stand-off Cassidy saw Ince immediately extend their lead. A half break, followed by a chip through and kind bounce collected by loose forward Matthew Meaden to score a 70 metre try under the sticks to dazzle the home team again and take an 8 point lead with 3 minutes played.

This was a fast and free flowing game of rugby by two strong teams. Crosfields were the next on the score sheet after good work from Billy Sheen to feed full back John Whittaker and reduce the deficit to 2 points with half an hour to play.

Another purple patch of play though was to end the game as a contest as two tries in another scintillating spell saw the visitors romp home. 1st a chip towards the posts on the last tackle was collected by centre Jamie Malone for another score and 2 minutes later Meaden got his second to stretch the lead to 14 points with 20 minutes to play.

Billy Sheen looked to have closed the gap with a piece of opportunism, by intercepting from the scrum only to be pulled back for off-side on 65 minutes. Ince put the game to bed with a drop goal late on before a consolation try with 3 minutes to go from Jordan Williams wrapped up the scoring in a very entertaining match.

Ince showed that they are clinical in attack and have a couple of eye catching players, but Crosfields can take heart from this performance as they showed spells of sustained organised pressure that will please the coaching staff.

Best for Crosfields were man of the match Jack Reid, Hayden James, Elliot Bridge and Jordan Ansell.

Next week Soap travel to Beverley who come off the back of a high scoring draw with St. Judes 40-40!