ALTRINCHAM Kersal's men's seconds progressed to the quarter-finals of the Brooke Edgley Specialist Technical Services Trophy with a 29-14 win against Southport.

Kersal quickly realised they were in for a challenge on home soil and the visitors scored first after a period of prolonged pressure.

The home side clawed back the points differential late on to reach 7-5 at half time through a penalty when they took a scrum option and sucked in numbers before spreading the ball wide for a try.

In the second half, Kersal’s forwards gradually became the more dominant with tries coming from prop Ali Berryman and flanker Aaron Loftus, together with second-row George Wise via a textbook line-out catch and drive.

Then, after coming off the bench, Jimmy Smith finished a trademark mazy run to make sure the backs returned to the dressing room with honour.

The draw for the last eight has thrown up another home tie for Kersal, against Northwich early in the new year.

Meanwhile, the ladies' XV went to Crewe and lost 33-15 despite some good running rugby.

They were slow out of the blocks and conceded three tries in the first half before steadying the ship with a score from Becky Bravender just before the turnaround.

A much stronger second half saw tries from Sarah Burns and Amy-Jane Dutton but they were matched by two from the hosts.

In the juniors, the under-15s beat Wirral 26-7 at home to continue their unbeaten run so far this season.

The u13s also remain undefeated, beating Warrington 40-30, while the minis enjoyed a morning at Wigan, with a great set of results.