THE ONE WHERE ROCHDALE GRACED OUR FIELDS

Many thanks to all those readers who came up to me and asked why we’d posted last week’s match report up twice, one straight after the other. It is said “To err is human, to arr is pirate” and both Steph and I sincerely apologise for any bouts of deja vu you may have suffered as a result. It did though, make a pleasant change from all the people who usually come up to me and ask “What are you doing in my wardrobe?”

My best childhood memory was falling asleep on the couch and waking up in bed thinking “Wow, I can teleport”. So there’s nothing finer in my opinion than sitting propped up against a pillow reading the Sunday papers before the day truly begins. I’ve been following the progress of the pregnant Great White Shark as she crosses the Atlantic this week, hoping against hope that she’ll change tack from heading towards the Bay of Biscay and visit our waters, but I suspect she won’t. Here’s an Interesting fact though: A shark will only attack you if you’re wet.

My reverie was broken rudely by Mrs Statto bringing in the breakfast. “The most ironic thing about eating toast in bed”, I thought as I had to spread my own Marmite, “is that it soon turns into a crumb pit.”

I confess to never having owned a Tamagotchi as a kid but now have an iPhone 5 that needs charging every half hour so that’s something I suppose. After a quick fumble I found it and googled ‘Marmite’ into the search engine. To my surprise it means: “Mum could be up for it!”

Stray words began to float and occasionally bump into each other, apologising profusely, in the outer reaches of my mind... ‘Sunday morning’, ‘Marmite’ and ‘Up for it Mums’ all searching for a connecting theme, which frankly came as a welcome relief, because they pushed out ‘drinking problem’, ‘public indecency’ and ‘soiling yourself in the computer section of Curry’s’. With a yelp, I leapt out of bed and within seconds was heading out the door for Grove Park.

It was a much depleted Manchester side, missing six players through injury and school rugby 7s tournaments, who started off with a long kick and immediately put pressure on the visitors. Their first attack was snuffed out by Rochdale’s resolute defence who won a lineout. Manchester managed to turn the ball over and quickly fed the ball across the pitch in three passes for a player lurking on the opposite flank to sprint down the touchline, before cutting in to score between the posts. The kicker arrowed the conversion attempt through the sticks perfectly to add a couple more points to the score.

MANCHESTER 7 ROCHDALE 0

Back came Rochdale. Their first foray into enemy territory ended with a great tackle by a Manchester player winning his team a lineout. Unfortunately the resulting throw didn’t go the required distance and Rochdale were awarded a penalty. Both sides, over-eager to get an edge, traded possession. First, Manchester’s forwards worked hard to turn the ball over and a maul formed, then Rochdale managed to snatch the ball back themselves. They made good use of the ball, feeding a player to run straight through Manchester’s defence to score under the uprights. Their precise conversion kick drew the sides level and we’d barely played four minutes!

MANCHESTER 7 ROCHDALE 7

From the kick off Rochdale knocked on, giving Manchester their first scrum of the morning. A spot of quick thinking found a Manchester player taking the ball from the back of the scrum, making good yardage, running at pace down the blindside. He almost escapes his man only to be stopped just yards short of the line. The home side managed to keep control of the play, shuffling the ball beautifully across the pitch once more to set up another try scoring opportunity, but again Rochdale’s defence stayed firm and the boys couldn’t find a path through.

Rochdale started to build up a head of steam and forced Manchester on to the defensive. They began to force our boys back from a scrum won by Manchester, turning the ball over and attacking down the flanks with purpose. Manchester reacted brilliantly though and stopped them dead in their tracks on the half way line with a series of big tackles.

The pressure was still all in the Manchester half until one of the boys managed to scramble the ball away with an assured kick that made Rochdale have to turn and chase back. From a won scrum against the head, Manchester sent another series of passes from one wing to the another and saw the ball picked up by a waiting player, who, under pressure from Rochdale defenders, sent a wonderfully judged grubber kick down the touchline and sped after it chasing it down. He pounced on the ball first, grounding it, to put a bit of daylight between the sides. The kicker swung his boot and dropped a kick between the posts. But it was agonisingly wide by just inches. The last play of the half saw an opportunity for Rochdale go begging when a pass was spilt in sight of the Manchester whitewash.

THIRD TIME
MANCHESTER 12 ROCHDALE 7

Stats for this third are as follows: Manchester kicked the ball three times whilst Rochdale kicked twice. Manchester had three lineouts, winning two, whilst Rochdale were awarded two losing both. We had two scrums, winning both, whilst Rochdale had three, winning two. We had one penalty but the visitors were awarded two. Stats showed that in this first period the ball got out to the wing five times but there were six breakdowns, with two knock ons.

Rochdale kicked off the second period and straight away a ruck formed in the centre of the pitch, which Manchester magnificently over-rucked. From a loose ball at the back of the sprawling mass of players, a quick thinking player picked up and, seeing daylight in the visitor’s defence, sped for the line to dot the ball. Once again the conversion was nailed.

MANCHESTER 19 ROCHDALE 7

With what was becoming a regular feature of the match, Rochdale immediately replied, clawing back seven points with a try and conversion of their own to once again narrow the gap to five points.

MANCHESTER 19 ROCHDALE 14

More pressure on the Manchester defence followed, as Rochdale gained momentum. Capitalizing on a penalty deep in Manchester territory, the visitor’s scrambled the ball over the line just inside the corner flag, despite the attentions of several Manchester players, to draw level. Luckily for Manchester, the kick was skewed wide of the posts.

MANCHESTER 19 ROCHDALE 19

Here was another moment when we, as parents, could only stand and watch to see which way the tie would go (another regular feature this season). Fortunately for all of a Manchester persuasion straight from the kick off a home side player made a darting solo run down the far touchline, judged his cut inside to perfection, scooting inside his man, leaving the rest of the Rochdale defence in disarray as he glided past them and under the posts to dot down. Great score. Again the conversion kick was bisected the posts to add to the points.

TWO THIRDS TIME
MANCHESTER 26 ROCHDALE 19

Stats for this second third are as follows: Manchester kicked the ball three once whilst Rochdale kicked twice. Manchester had one lineouts, which they won, whilst Rochdale had none. We had just the one scrum, winning it, whilst Rochdale had four, winning all of theirs. Both sides had a penalty apiece. Stats showed that in this first period the ball got out to the wing four times but there were five breakdowns, with two knock ons.

Manchester kicked off the last period. A fumble in the Rochdale defence gifted the ball to Manchester. A couple of quick, short passes found a player who cut between two defenders to score just outside the upright. Another conversion attempt, another conversion made. Finally! No way back for Rochdale.

MANCHESTER 33 ROCHDALE 19

All the play was now in the Rochdale half as the home side went in search of another try. It came from a won Manchester scrum with the ball being passed sharply to a player to make a blindside run into space, crashing through bodies in search of the try line. Unfortunately this time the conversion was missed.

THREE THIRDS (OR FULL TIME) TIME
MANCHESTER 38 ROCHDALE 19

Thoughts on the match were that with so many players missing the boys played well with some good passages of play, particularly from the Backs. It was an ugly win, but a great opportunity for some serious game time for our newer members of the squad against a strong side.