Back
Sun 06 Jan 2013
U9s (Year 4)
11:00
Littleborough
Honours even in new year thriller
John Stevens6 Jan 2013 - 19:55
Share via
Dale under 9s slugged it out with friends Littleborough once again in a no holds barred , action packed start to the year - highly entertaining draw
We were treated to the rarity of a home fixture being on at last - albeit the ground was shrouded in mist like a scene from Halloween rather than early new year, and it was similarly unseasonably mild. You might be forgiven for thinking that these 2 teams would be fed up of each other by now but neither gave any quarter in a highly energetic and toughly fought contest.
For the record there were three mini matches , Rossendale victorious 3-0 , Littleborough counter punch 2-0 and arguably the pick of the morning encounters a 2-2 " grand finale " which had just about everything and kept the " crowd" in fine voice throughout.
Once again we saw a great turn out, with 16 players showing massive enthusiasm for the sport and the club which is brilliant - all players as ever showed great spirit and effort throughout and it was this spirit and positivity which carried Rossendale through. Littleborough are a well organised and drilled team and have a good balance of skills and rugby awareness - our team remain lacking in certain aspects of match awareness , notably in rucking despite our endless practice , however demonstrate an " all for one " and " never say die" approach to staying in a game.
The final game highlighted this to best effect - 0-1 down, Michael Bailey burst through doing a Bolt like sprint to level - only to see Littleborough force their way ahead after concerted and resolute defence. As Rossendale pressed for an unlikely equaliser, DJ Stevens found the space to push for the corner and made it to level , cue outrageous celebrations akin to WWE - and the crowd went wild - ish too !
Dale thought they might have pinched it as the waspish Ieuan Bissell jinked through only to be tackled at the death and before we could draw breath it was all over and another highly entertaining morning with Littleborough finished with nothing between the teams.
In the first match Rowan Tweedale scored all 3 tries in an impressive solo performance but overall man of the match today was Max Dunn who was fearless in the challenge and determined against shall we say some sturdier opponents. Tackle hero of the day was Ieuan Bissell who had his best match of the season, he was everywhere and really put himself about today.
A great way to kick off 2013, this team can certainly improve on excellent foundations and look set fair to enjoy a good second half of the season - as they get more matches under their belts they will surely only learn more and give us plenty more entertaining mornings as the season progresses.
For the record there were three mini matches , Rossendale victorious 3-0 , Littleborough counter punch 2-0 and arguably the pick of the morning encounters a 2-2 " grand finale " which had just about everything and kept the " crowd" in fine voice throughout.
Once again we saw a great turn out, with 16 players showing massive enthusiasm for the sport and the club which is brilliant - all players as ever showed great spirit and effort throughout and it was this spirit and positivity which carried Rossendale through. Littleborough are a well organised and drilled team and have a good balance of skills and rugby awareness - our team remain lacking in certain aspects of match awareness , notably in rucking despite our endless practice , however demonstrate an " all for one " and " never say die" approach to staying in a game.
The final game highlighted this to best effect - 0-1 down, Michael Bailey burst through doing a Bolt like sprint to level - only to see Littleborough force their way ahead after concerted and resolute defence. As Rossendale pressed for an unlikely equaliser, DJ Stevens found the space to push for the corner and made it to level , cue outrageous celebrations akin to WWE - and the crowd went wild - ish too !
Dale thought they might have pinched it as the waspish Ieuan Bissell jinked through only to be tackled at the death and before we could draw breath it was all over and another highly entertaining morning with Littleborough finished with nothing between the teams.
In the first match Rowan Tweedale scored all 3 tries in an impressive solo performance but overall man of the match today was Max Dunn who was fearless in the challenge and determined against shall we say some sturdier opponents. Tackle hero of the day was Ieuan Bissell who had his best match of the season, he was everywhere and really put himself about today.
A great way to kick off 2013, this team can certainly improve on excellent foundations and look set fair to enjoy a good second half of the season - as they get more matches under their belts they will surely only learn more and give us plenty more entertaining mornings as the season progresses.
Further reading