Rossendale 0 - 15 Colne & Nelson

The result is not a reflection of how Rossendale played

Due to a number or other fixtures & junior colt fixture the inevitable Rossendale weather pitches were in demand at Medowhead.

Before any Under 15 rugby was played the time line to play this was shortened to 25 each half. This was further reduced due to the visitors arriving at Medowhead at the stroke of 11. We were now play 20 minutes halves!

Dale won the toss and decided to play with the slope in the first half.
Colen came to Rossendale to have a go this was evident from the start. They came at Dale using their big lose head prop and number 8. This onslaught was equally matched by some very good tackling by Dale.
Both sides were evenly matched and led to a very good contest.
The conditions did not lend themselves to fast flowing back play more the usual Rossendale up the jumper would have been a better tactic.
Due to a number of handling errors from both sides scrumaging was the order of the day, the scrums were very good contest. Both packs worked hard in the very poor conditions.

In the dying minutes of the first half Colne crossed the white wash 0-5 to Colne.

With Dale receiving the kick at the start of the second half set off with their now trade mark determination to show how good a squad of players they have become. Dale spent a good time playing good forward moving rugby. Unfortunately as in the game against Burnley the opposition took advantage of Dale’s sometimes slow play at the break down, this resulted in another score to Colne & Nelson.

Unnerved by this Dale kept pressing forward they once again fell foul to handling errors yet more scrums.

Then as a result of some dubious refereeing, Colne & Nelson took advantage of an unseen knock–on and put in their very fast winger to score their 3rd try.

From this Dale played out the remaining time left in the contest camped in Colne's half, even though they kept pressing for the try line. Dale crossed the line in the final play of the game only to be deemed held up by the referee.

Result Rossendale 0 - 15 Colne & Nelson.

On another day with the time allocation and a different referee the result may have been very different.

All players need to heart from the first two games they have played. Results will soon be turning round I feel, we have some very talented players and some who have a dogged determination and a high work rate.
Well done to keep up and play with pride and heart.

Match report written by the referee !