Simms Cross 8-48 Heysham Atoms

A strong Atoms line-up completed the double over their opponents with an eight try victory in what was a dominant display.

It only took the Atoms four minutes to open their account with Michael Forrest scoring directly from a scrum, showing excellent pace to round off a three man handling move.

The Atoms made a couple of unforced errors which meant that they had to defend their line and were nearly caught out on the left edge until Jamie Cottle saved their blushes with an outstanding cover tackle, helped by Jack Edmondson close to the corner flag.

The Atoms forwards regained control and prop forward Mark Walker off-loaded the ball which allowed more space out wide to be exploited by centre Jack Edmondson.

He scored breaking the line and looks like he is steadily coming back into the form of last season.

On the 20 minute mark The Atoms made it 18-0 when Forrest made a break in the left centre panel once again.

He was backed up on the inside by second row Jake Harrison who took the pass and sprinted away from the cover, scoring under the posts.

Simms Cross have been national cup champions in the recent past and showed that they could still be dangerous given the chance.

Their best player was their strong running second row and he created a score which finally put the Widnes side on the board.

Jake Harrison scored his second try, taking an excellent ‘face’ pass close to the line from hooker Billy Livingstone as the Atoms went into half time 24-4 ahead.

The second period took on much the same shape as the first with The Atoms’ forwards dominating and their backs finishing off with the tries.

Jamie Cottle out-lept the opposition, taking a high bomb on the run, and his half back partner Jack Lawton took the pass and glided through the defensive line to take The Atoms to the 30 point mark.

Tom Crookall scored his third try in three games, picking the ball up in the dummy half position on half way, breaking the first tackle and scoring close to the posts.

Scrum half Jamie cottle kicked ahead on the next play, regaining the ball and scoring his sixth try of the season.

At this point the Atoms were given a little reminder that if they dropped in intensity things wouldn’t go all their own way when Simms Cross went over the line for the second time, scoring a good try which was instigated again by their second row forward.

At this point the play became loose and a bit frantic as the hot conditions seemed to take their toll on the hosts.

Jason Short spun out of a couple of tackles and Leandro Kwiczor made some big yards down the middle of the field while Matt Mount showed good footwork down the right edge, cutting inside and taking one for the team before Dan Helme made a neat pass inside to winger Kyel Dempsey who sprinted 40 yards for his try.

Billy Livingstone’s immaculate kicking display finished the scoring as he kicked his eighth goal from eight attempts in a personal total of 16 points.

The Atoms have a week off next Saturday before they return to league action at the Trimpell against Haresfinch from St Helens on August 20.