West Park overturn Rossendale U9s

Rossendale won the toss and chose to kick off, making quick progress into West Park’s half. But they defended well and stole the ball to break away and score a good try before there were 3 minutes on the clock. West Park defence stood strong from the restart, won a turnover and broke away to score again. Some good attacking runs from Tom Unsworth and Henry Wilby, driven forward by prop Isaac Cornwall and good support from Will Peel and Joe Butterworth weren’t enough to breach the West Park defence. Rossendale came within a few inches of the line, only to be repelled and be caught on the break for another try. In the last play of the half, a superb tackle from Lucian Costello halted a great West Park attacking run, but the ball was recycled quickly to give West Park an excellent try.

Second half was more of the same! Some great play by both sides; fast darting runs from Tom, Ben Holdsworth-Miller and Alex Kilshaw, strong surging runs from Henry and Lucian and good driving by Isaac and Niall Milligan just weren’t enough to get through the well-organised defence. West Park put in an excellent display in both attack and defence and scored 3 more tries in the second half.

West Park were worthy winners, but it was a shame we didn’t score. The boys should still be very proud of today’s game and have shown we are heading in the right direction. We came up against an organised side from a strong club and put in an exciting performance.

A big thank you to all of the parents who travelled over to St Helens - we were very well supported today.

Rossendale Man of the Match (awarded by the Referee): Tom Unsworth – Well done Tom!