Oldham RUFC 1st XV
Matches
Sat 26 Nov 2016  ·  North Lancs & Cumbria
Oldham RUFC
Oldham RUFC 1st XV
Tries: C RoscoeConversions: A JobsonPenalties: C Megram
10
13
Fleetwood
Oldham RUFC v Fleetwood RUFC

Oldham RUFC v Fleetwood RUFC

Oldham RUFC30 Nov 2016 - 15:45
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Oldham RUFC lose close contest at home

Storm Angus.......... are you serious? If we are going to give these meteorological nasties a name lets at least make them sound like they mean business. Anthropomorphising them seems to have made more of them invade our shores. They seem to like having a name so, that being the case, let's give them something with a bit of energy......apparently, upcoming relatives include storm Barbara, storm Doris and storm Fleur.....all of whom sound as if they should be on a saga coach tour holiday or sat around in a nursing home rather than wreaking havoc across the country.
Anyhow, the tail end of Angus did its worst in these parts but he was no match for the Manor Park groundsman, Alan Hollingsworth who once again turned out a most excellent playing surface.

As autumn comes to an end, we had a beautiful day of sunshine this weekend at Manor Park. Sure it was on the chilly side but you need to wear the right clothing and even Terry had trousers on. This week Fleetwood made the journey down the M55, M6, M61, M62 and M60 to Manor Park. What a lot of motorways that is for such a short journey. Aren't we lucky to have such infrastructure on our doorsteps? However, I wonder for how many of those miles they were able to travel at the maximum legal speed. Not very many would be my guess. Please take note Mr Hammond and invest in the railways.......more Tarmac only means more cars and you just kick the can down the road to the next weakest link and we all just sit in a queue and fume. Corky goes everywhere on the bus and loves it. He does travel for free though.

Fleetwood have had a good start to the season and sit above Oldham in the table. They are one of only two sides to turnover Carlisle who are currently the divisions stand out performers so this would not be a game for the faint hearted.

All change again this week for the Oldham personnel. Pc Froggatt disappeared to Benidorm for the weekend allowing the ne're do wells of inner city Manchester to wreak havoc on the city's streets. Enjoy it while you can boys...he'll be back soon. Phil Graham had a medical emergency, as did Max Horsfall and Cameron Wood needed 80 mins with the twos. So Jack Taylor, Jake Watson and Jason Green all made returns to the first team fold. Jake and Jason looked to be roughly the same weight as when they last played but the distribution and composition of the weight seemed have changed considerably.......and not necessarily for the better. One noteworthy occurrence was the Oldham selection of two sets of brothers, namely Jake and Josh Watson and Luke and Charlie Roscoe all of whom came through the clubs academy. Can't recall the last time that happened! And former Oldham player and coach Lee Kemp paid us a visit from Australia. Always, always good to see former players down at the club from either Perth or Derker.

I have received a complaint from veteran touch judge Mel Garner about my description of his replacement last week as being 'younger, fitter and better looking'. Mel was most aggrieved by this description and has asked me to point out that his replacement is also more articulate and intelligent. Consider it done Mel.

Fleetwood kicked off and immediately went on the offensive and started at an intensity that caught the home side on the hop. They are strong and powerful all over the pitch and all Oldham could do was to hang on and try to contain them. They frequently broke the first line of the defence but Oldham scrambled well with Ryan Arundale making one particularly tremendous effort having run 70m across the paddock to save what looked to be a certain try. Good man. Things went from bad to worse for Oldham when they lost tough tackling flanker Luke Roscoe to a head injury. We wish him a speedy recovery.

Fleetwood also benefited from Oldham regularly incurring the wrath of the official and faced a penalty count of 14-2 in the first 30 mins. So it was no surprise really when Fleetwood slotted two penalties to lead 6-0. If Oldham thought it couldn't get much worse, it immediately did when Callum Megram received 10 minutes in the bin for a bit of retaliation.

However, Fleetwood seemed to start to slow down as Oldham’s powerful defence started to take effect and the rest of the half belonged to the home side who spent most of it in the Fleetwood 22. But they met an equally resolute defence that regularly repelled the Oldham attack. Oldham looked certain to score when Nick Hackman took a quick tap 5 m out only to be tackled by the last man. He received a yellow card but on another day it could surely have been a penalty try. However the person who counted thought otherwise. Shortly afterwards the Oldham backs spun the ball along the line and Alex Jobson darted through a gap and unselfishly drew the last defender and put Charlie Roscoe in the corner unopposed. Alex's choice was a mature one showed that the team is more important than the individual....... this is a lesson the team should learn and emulate....... it doesn't matter who scores....... well done Jobbo. With Megram in the bin, Jobson nailed a beautiful conversion from the touchline and Oldham somehow found themselves in the lead. The referee blew for half time shortly afterwards.

Half Time Score: Oldham 7 v Fleetwood 6

It was a very physical half of rugby played in a very good spirit. Scrums and line outs were pretty even and powerful defences were on top. The Oldham eight executed well with props Bobby Cullen and Jordan McEwan strong all afternoon. Gaz Blomeley, John Souter and Nick Hackman carried well and the Watson brothers and Taylor were tireless in the loose. Oldham did seem to lack a bit of the guile that has been a key component of their offence this year and often took the ball into contact as opposed to using the space on offer at Manor Park. But changes in personnel sometimes results in the wrong player being in the wrong position at the wrong time. Who'd be a coach?

There was a bit of bother in the scoreboard end as stalwart Geoff Heptonstall failed in his duty to bring the boiled sweets. Now in fairness to Geoff, this is a task that has been performed admirably for many years by Lawrence Waterhouse. But Lawrence was elsewhere and Geoff was left with one simple task. And he forgot......one task and he forgot. I ask you. Well Brian Smith was beside himself and spent most of the afternoon pelting the unfortunate stand in touch judge with anything he could get his hands on. No doubt the clubs disciplinary committee will take appropriate action.

The second half followed a similar pattern to the first with defences on top and both sides beginning to show the signs of battle. Oldham extended the lead to 10-6 when Megram slotted a long range penalty on 45 mins. With defences dominating, the next score was likely to be decisive and it went the way of Fleetwood. They retained possession for a long period in the Oldham 22 and although the home defence looked able to cope, they eventually created enough space to score a try in the corner. An excellent conversion gave Fleetwood a 10-13 lead.

The defining moment of the game came about 10 minutes later when Oldham worked their way deep into the Fleetwood 22. They were awarded 5 consecutive penalties in the red zone in a five minute period during which they did not leave the red zone. Every single person in the ground assumed that there must be a penalty try and a yellow card....but not the person with the whistle. To add insult to injury Oldham were then ordered to use the ball when once again driving the Fleetwood eight backwards. That really was a strange one. Anyhow, we somehow made a mess of it, conceded a penalty and Fleetwood cleared their lines to whoops of joy. I am reminded of our visit to Upper Eden earlier in the year when we had 3 consecutive yellow cards for consecutive penalties in the 22..... Not even in the red zone. How interpretations vary!!!!! This exchange was truly intense and exhausted both packs and nobody troubled the score board further.

Final Score: Oldham 1st 10 v Fleetwood 1st 13

All credit to Fleetwood. They are a young fit and powerful team who adore physical contact. The first 30 minutes was full of pace and aggression and on another they could have been out of sight. Oldham dug deep though and battled throughout. A couple of refereeing decisions proved vital on the day and undoubtedly deprived Oldham of points which might well have won them the match. That's sport folks.......but it doesn't half hurt!

So off to Bolton next week. Never ever an easy place to go to so we need big numbers at training. In a game dominated by defenders, everyone puts in a stint and there were many contenders for man of the match. Fleetwood’s No7 was athletic all afternoon and was their stand out man. For Oldham, Jack Taylor and Charlie Roscoe put in big shifts in defence but the award went to John Souter.

Match details

Match date

Sat 26 Nov 2016

Kickoff

14:15

Meet time

13:00

Competition

North Lancs & Cumbria

League position

4
Fleetwood
8
Oldham
Team overview
Further reading

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