Everything rosey at Rochdale

Once again the Under 8s were strong in number as well as skill, and boasted two teams to take on a Rochdale squad of similar number, and not a little beef!

Special thanks and all our hopes and prayers for young James, who came back from injury today, only to take another knock in the warm up! Rochdale must be a jinx for this young man, as last year he and Andy had a terrible accident on the way home! They stayed on to watch today and their support was really appreciated.

And so to the games, with our blue team of Tom, Mia, Connie, Thomas, Alex, Johnathon and Dilip - our white team Jacob, Callum, Harry, Ivan, Bradley, Christopher and Joe.

Whites kicked off against a Rochdale team of 8 and soon discovered they were up against a tough tackling, no nonsense, well organised group. They matched us for speed and direct running, and were much more aggressive in the tackle. As per usual with tag the game ebbed and flowed, with both sides putting on plenty of pressure, neither side taking 6 tags to turnover. This high scoring game finished 9 tries each. Next game was another tough affair, with early exchanges leaving us down to 6, for a good few minutes, during which Rochdale racked up a healthy lead. Back to 7 again after the break and a request to man up, and we really put in shift. Rochdale were (finally) penalised for their over-exuberant tackles, and more tackles were made. In the end Rochdale were good value for their 8-4 win, while the boys on the white team learned a thing or two about what they can look forward to next year, when we play contact for real.

As for the blues, they were winners of both of their games, even against the team of 8, and were able to get through the rough and tumble in both games. Sorry about the brevity of their report but yours truly can't be in two places at once. If anyone wants to email me with a version of their events I will add it to this section no problem.

Thanks to Richard and John R for their coaching support today, and to Gerard Knight for bailing me out kit wise.

Vale of Lune next week, should be a doosie - Ted's going to an important church do and I've got to be there too, so Richard is in the chair. Best of luck!!