It’s a funny old game. Words spoken not by that great football pundit Jimmy Greaves but by that Stalwart coach from the sunny sea side resort of Stockport, Mr Mann.

Last week we put out a very good side, warmed up well and were really up for it but got tatered. This week we had a much depleted side, looked liked we had all seen a ghost in the changing room before hand and had lost the game before we even started and promptly went 24 –0 up. Its a funny old game.

The weather turned nasty this morning and as well as heavy rain and wet snow on the lower hills a thin snow line lay on the higher ground. The wet conditions were such that the 1st Team pitch was unplayable and we had to follow second string on the top pitch after the 15’s.
The heavy conditions did nothing for the handling and passing abilities but a good hard cup tie ensued.

Rossendale were definitely in the ascendancy from the word go and after only 2 minutes it was Joe Andrew who grasped at the chance on offer with a superb barging run to ground the ball but on doing so twisted his back which left him on tender hooks the rest of the game though the way he played you wouldn’t have thought so.
Jak E Mann popped over the extras.

Ten minutes later and with Bury still struggling to get their breath that man Cloughyyyyy stomped and barged and pushed and shoved and weaved himself to the line and with an extra one handed stretch out plonked the ball down to score.
Jak E Mann popped over the extras.

From the kick off we were at it again. No holding us now. A lovely bit of push and shove took us well down into the Bury half before some lovely pass and run with backing up abound down the blind side saw Tom Allen squeeze himself into the corner to open his Colts account.
Jak E Mann popped over the extras.

A little bit extra on this kick because it was a beauty. From the touchline in very heavy conditions and it sailed so sweetly through the dead centre of the uprights. Great one. That really chalked us up and buoyed us even further.
A word of mention now to his kicking coach Mason Wells who obviously taught him everything he knew last Wednesday night.

Now Rossendale were not to ease off at this point. We continued to pressure Bury and quite rightly so. We did some immense forward drives down the park which was particularly pleasing given the big Bury pack . Tributes to all the forwards for these plays but a big pat on the back for Sam Lyth who did everything right, training really paid off today and he did a great job holding that ball as the momentum in the mauls took us on and on down the field.

The scoring didn’t finish there, Dale gained a penalty kick some way out from the posts and we went for goal. I was a little apprehensive the conditions would make the kick difficult but Jak E had other ideas and it sailed sweetly through again.
Phew 24-0 up. I was knackered as the linesman.

Bury however regrouped and scored a try just before half time. It was slightly against run of play and was at a time that we had taken a nap and were all snoozing in the mud.
This spurred Bury on and an easy easy situation became nearly a nightmare. A big hand to the Bury lads for never saying give in and every credit for the next 20 minutes or so in to the first half where their forwards lifted the game to such an extent that we never had a look in and just couldn’t get a foot hold in the game again.
Although predictable it was effective and their big forwards kept ramming us down the throat, tries during this period brought them back to 24-17. I was about to call the air ambulance for my heart murmurs that started. What a cup tie!

Bury pressed on and camped on our line. Held up over the line on two occasions it was left up to our inside centre to make sure the next big lad coming through got “CLOUGHYED”. The resultant dropped ball gave us the scrum advantage and the line was cleared.

Composure then took over and order restored. We got to grip with the situation and started to play rugby again.

Some lovely sweet interpassing moves again up the blind finally resulted in a Mason try in the corner. That took the lead slightly out of Burys sights and eased the pressure on us.

Drama was never far away however and a yellow card came for that dirty tackle of Ben Paul’s, ridiculous tackle.
Ahem, actually it was the bravest tackle on the field all day. With a very big power full unit running straight at him Ben stood his ground and whilst he went a little high on the upper body he took the momentum away and effectively stopped him in his tracks. Ben however was propelled backwards some 4 feet and the oncoming forward losing his balance was coming downwards towards Ben. I think instinctively and probably still not knowing here he was Bens feet were raised ( is that not what you do when you fly through the air backwards and land on your back anyway?). Ref was having none of it and he was OFF.
Penalty yes but probably the harshest yellow I have seen.

9 minutes left to play but Bury couldn’t get back into the game. Rossendale kept them out of it and continued to make it hard for them.

Final whistle and a 29-17 win for us.

Some of the finer points I have already mentioned but to add on to them:

Jak E Mann in difficult conditions kept the ball rolling out and some good tactical kicking.

Our Cory at full back didn’t really put a foot wrong. Some good little breaks with a cheeky side step. Involved in the interpassing movements down the blind especially in Masons try and all the game organised the back line barking out what he could see in front of him.

Adil never let a man pass. In fact our defence was great when you look at it. Bury in one move succeeded in going right along the width of the pitch and put into touch on the far side but never gained a yard.

Forwards wise, Joe Andrew as terrific as ever. Woody standing his ground well against a very big pack and our own pocket battle ship Fahwad.

Tom Allen was tremendous particularly in the first half but Mason stole the man of the match for such an industrious performance added to by a try and he didn’t get yellowed. Is he ill?

For the backs the man of the match award goes to Billy Whizz. Starting at ten for the first time he as very industrious , tackled like a demon and didn’t do much wrong at all.

Well done everyone great performance at the end of the day in bad conditions.

I’m well chuffed and hope you all are to. It’s a funny old game.