Another win to the Blackburn

Rossendale Under 10’s made the short stop over the hill to Blackburn full of confidence after the game against Bolton. Thanks to Andy and his team for a great day out albeit not the result we were looking for after having been beaten twice already by Blackburn this season.
Our preparation was good even after Dizzey got lost heading off to Blackpool!
With 3 key players not available including our hooker, fly half and top try scorer it was going to be a tall ask to beat a strong Blackburn team however after a keen warm up the signs were good.
However Blackburn made the early running and some weak tackling soon let Blackburn on the scorecard. Rossendale’s defence was not up to its usual standard and missed tackles were all too apparent. However there were some strong performances in defence and George had top tackle count with 15 tackles. Best tackle of the day has to go to Callum who continues to show great technique in the tackle and saved two tries with some very strong challenges.
Rossendale went down 5 tries to 1 with George scoring the only try however the referee (yours truly) apparently missed Natasha’s try and then subsequently allowed the Blackburn try as the Rossendale players remonstrated at the referee. Hopefully this will be a useful lesson to them to play to the whistle and not to argue with the referee.
Natasha had a very strong game today and along with George was very deserving of the joint man of the match.
Rossendale made this a very competitive game but the first try was definitely a body blow and whichever team scored first likely to take the win in what was going to be close game.
Blackburn out passed and out rucked Rossendale and these two parts of the game are definitely areas that the team needs to work on. The Rossendale line out in contrast was a strength today and well done to the Smallridge sibblings Shaun and Natasha who worked very hard both in the line and open play.
Thanks to PJ for helping the team today with key players missing and to Ian for joining he coaching staff !
The squad continues to grow and with 15 in the squad will hopefully bode well for future seasons.
Great weather, a great game and fab location made it a good day and we have a superb team spirit!
See you at training on Thursday at 6:15pm at Marl Pitts !

Cheers
Dizzey