Super centre Alex Chatterton grabbed a hat trick of tries as Underbank secured an excellent 31-18 triumph at Oldham St Anne’s in Division II of the National Conference League.
His tally helped make it five wins from eight Second Division starts for Rangers and kept them fifth in the table.
James Usher returned to the starting line-up after injury, while Craig Williams and Paul Horsfall stepped into roles from the bench, and Dave Pawson made his season debut.
Luke Karolczuk, Mitchell Turner and Liam Donlon were all missing through injury.
St Anne’s had only previously won one game in 2015, but belied their next to bottom league position with a determined performance as they flew from the traps with three unconverted tries in the opening 15 minutes, with Rangers misreading defensively and missing one-on-one tackles.
Underbank’s cause wasn’t helped by spilling the game’s kick-off, gifting the home side early possession from which they scored the opening try of the game.
However, after the early onslaught, Underbank got a foothold in the game when Williams crashed over in the 20th minute following a period of sustained pressure.
Joel Croker missed the conversion, but added the extras three minutes later when Chatterton crossed for his first try of the afternoon after receiving a great pass at the line from prop Luke Nelmes.
Rangers bombed several chances to score and the home side took full advantage to increase their lead to six points when stand-off Matt Whitehead danced his way through several poor attempts to tackle him to score.
His half back partner Jordan White added the conversion, but Underbank pulled within two points at the break when Stephen Berry scooted superbly from acting-half on 36 minutes and found the ‘pushing- through’ Williams with a superb pass, and the strong running back rower did the rest racing over from 30m.
With Croker’s conversion. Rangers trailed by just two points at 18-16 at half time.
St Anne’s put a big effort into the first 40 and could not maintain the level of intensity in the second period.
Underbank enjoyed the lion’s share of possession as the home side struggled to keep hold of the ball and Rangers took the lead in the 49th minute as Chatterton released winger Will England down the right touchline and the young speedster passed back to Chatterton to post his second score.
Then James Usher kicked a lovely grubber to the line for Chatterton to react first and touch down to increase the lead to 24-18.
Usher coolly slotted over a field goal after 71 minutes to make the game a seven-point lead and crucially two scores clear for Rangers.
And Rangers completed the win with three minutes remaining as Chatterton received a great Usher pass to score his fourth.
Croker converted from wide out and Underbank had won the game comfortably enough in the end by a margin of 31-18.
Underbank Rangers: Chris Druett, Will England, Alex Chatterton (4T), Kurt Selmes, Johnathan Tinker, Joel Croker (3G), James Usher (FG), Dave Valentine, Stephen Berry, Dan Farrand, Michael Murphy, Dave Pawson, Kris Harrop; Luke Pogson, Craig Williams, Paul Horsfall, Luke Nelmes.
