A wonderful sunny day in Rochdale was matched by some tremendous rugby on display from both sides who fielded two very strong teams.
Dale, the real Dale that is, ahem Rossendale started the game on fire. Rochdale was continually pushed onto the back foot but doggedly tackled Rossendale to keep them from scoring.
On fifteen minutes it was an outrageous dummy from the back of a maul with some excellent vision that saw Jake mann break straight through the defence and head for the line. Now in past weeks we may have seen players take the last defender on himself but Jake , totally unselfishly drew the man and past onto the supporting JR who politely thanked Jake and had the easier task to complete in putting the ball down over the line for the game opener. JR didn’t just come from nowhere. Jake had already called him over to back him up prior to taking the ball from the maul knowing what he was going to do. Great reading of the game.
Lowthion popped over the extras and Rossendale looked good for the win.

Try as they might though and despite their dominance we could just not quite break down the defence again until minutes out from half time we had a drive over from Lowthion and an excellent piece of through hands rugby and support play that followed straight after which saw Billy Holden ( again unselfishly) put Ben Paul over in the corner to score. Its just like watching Brazil!

17-0 at the break, would Rochdale fold ? Well no they didn’t, credit to them. It became very much like the first half though with Rossendale well up on territory and really pushing Rochdale to the last.
On 50 minutes Tom Allen had a marvellous break away and offloaded superbly to the supporting Joe Andrew. Outpacing several defenders he skipped through to register the try and a 22-0 lead.

That was the last score for Rossendale and the last 15 minutes saw the tides turn somewhat with Rochdale becoming the stronger side perhaps with a greater will to register some points and not wanting to be nilled for the second derby game in a row.

Our opponents finally had their wish granted and managed a try in the bottom left corner. From the restart they continued where they left off but Rossendales turn to stand up and be counted in defence saw us equal to the task. Just one further occasion to worry us saw a beautiful try saving thundering tackle by Burgess to put the opponent in to touch several feet from our line.

And that’s how it ended up. Compliments to both teams for putting up such an enthralling game of rugby but overall the stronger and better side won through at the end of the day. That’s not just my say so but the thoughts echoed from the Rochdale side.

With the game over and the sunny warm weather taking over thoughts turned to the BBQ for later with a few chilled lagers. The journey back over the hill soon put paid to such thoughts. Grey miserable and cold, Rossendale reminded us more of the arctic. At least the rugby was good.

Some points from the game not covered above:

Discipline will cost us dear at some stage. Lets cut out the daftness and concentrate on the game.

Whilst all the forwards played really well Mason and Joe Andrews work rate was exceptional.
Billy the Whizz Holden had another very strong match and really got stuck in to everything.

Will Nowell picked his game up very well and played some good strong stuff out there.

Man of the Match performances : well Lowthion was terrific in the backs and all over the park actually. His return of the ball was awesome and defence outstanding.
For the forwards the ward went to Bridgey as it was felt he also had an extremely strong game and was into everything. Very well deserving.

Overall a brilliant team performance. From my part though it is tinged with a little remorse as some players didn’t get a look into today. I apologise once again for that, circumstances changed and time ran out. There will be plenty of occasions left for those players who missed out to be involved more so please bear with us.

Training night is Tuesday at the gym and I can say with a bit of confidence Wednesday up at Marl Pits for a 6.30pm start.

Its Tarleton in the cup next Sunday. We will need all to be available please.