It’s a home game Jim,but not as we know it!

The wind had calmed somewhat and an early morning phone call from the grounds man confirmed the Home game was on. Not only that but it turned out we had been successful bidders to play the first team pitch that day. Winners all round on that score then. Not only would we escape any sudden weather changes up above on Meadowside but also had an advantage of a wide and luxurious pitch to ply our wares.

Parents mustered and bacon, sausage and egg butties became the order of the day with a good trade on tea and coffee from the café in a warm club house as the anticipation built for the game.

Players from both sides changed into their respective Club strips and readied themselves to do battle… ahem… in the most gentlemany sort of way of course.

But ay up ! wots gone on here. One side was sat in the changing rooms at the end of the M65 at the gateway to the Yorkshire Dales… that was Colne, whilst the other team sat at one side of the M66 on the foothills of the West Pennine Moors… that was us…Rossendale.

Oops. So the choice was either a game of video linked tiddlywinks or one team had to travel. If it came down to a coin toss I would of Bl*&$y lost anyway. Parents stuck their hands up and a quick change of plan saw us speeding down the motorway to our rearranged venue. The Arkansaw chug a bug with one bar of red diesel left in it nearly out paced you all but just couldn’t get up to 57 mph and Loz left a clear gap between me and him and the rest of you.

We had a short sharp preparation and credit the lads for taking up the mantle that they have been showing this season of taking responsibility for much of the warm up. Its you that make the decisions on the field in a game so the more you can do yourselves the better decisions you will make.

The game started with a very quick try from a scrum where our ever strong running hard working Rhys “hug a hoody “ Tighe steam rollered through. But any thoughts of an easy game in store where soon dashed as poor tackling led to a try from Colne which has to be said was the order of the day from them in the backing up department which they did throughout the game and caused us some problems as they shifted the ball on and on through hands.

A bit of soul searching after the try from the lads led to a good recovery by the Dale and we played the stronger for a good solid period.This led to further tries by “Fred Astaire” Willets wearing his amazing dancing shoes to dazzle the opposition with his fancy footwork and then after another strong Rhysy boy run a great off load to Tom who borrowed Freds dancing shoes and did a bit of fancy footwork himself to outstrip the Colne defence. That try followed on a magnificent period of defence from us near our try line which saw us turn the ball over from the strong Colne pack and go on to score.
Into the second half and the wind was against us so wingers and full back had to play more defensively. Nonetheless another surging try by Rhys and a great piece of team work at the drive over led to Isaac ( Dr Evil) taking the spoils. Another example of great team work as the push and drive by the Dale included Micky getting involved from the wing and other backs giving Colne no chance to defend Isaacs final onslaught.

A big rap at this time for our Front row Dr Evil(Big Isaac), Mini Me ( Little Isaac) and Jordan “ Powers” Fortune. Solid as a rock throughout the game against what I thought was a decent pack of forwards. In fact all through the game we had some good forward work turning over the ball in almost impossible situations and showing great maturity … yes parents, you heard it here first… maturity in doing what they did. Sam turned his hand to play a good game and a big rap for Hadley who had his best run out in Dales colours yet whilst Charlie didn’t take a backward step either.

The scoring was finished off in fine style by Freddy Willets and once again Tom doing a superb weavy run. James slotted over all the kicks bar one which deserved the points anyway as it was into the wind from the touch line and hit the upright but just didn’t sneak over.

A good hard game but played in a very good spirit throughout. It was no easy ride especially given the conditions but good team work prevailed.

Thanks to Max for running out at scrum half today and for the majority of the time had a very good game playing a big part in the win.

James as ever was a massive influence and Kieron did some superb kick returns and was always trying to organise from the back.

However it was Centre Tom – he’s handed the dancing shoes back now,… who caught the eye for the man of the match award. As well as his very well taken brace of tries he put some great defensive work in particularly in the first half when we were on the back foot and at even stevens which kept us in the game.

One other point to mention was the fantastic play in the second half which preceded James’ second try. We were camped on our line again by some very strong forward play and for all intense and purposes they were going to score. We were fully committed and resolute in our defence and turned the ball over again which turned into attack and again another length of fielder to increase our lead.

A fine example of our team work and a credit to you all who played.

Thanks again for some great parental support, to Andy for a big helping hand and the players for coming up with the goods….that’s all folks ..yawn….hic..