Littleborough U14s 0 - 45 Rossendale U14s

The rain held off on a cold first Sunday, where Littleborough played hosts to Rossendale U14s who were looking to start New Year as they ended 2013. Both sides had full squads, and previous encounters had proved to be closely contested games with strong packs in both teams, so the large group of spectators were expecting an exciting game. They were not to be disappointed, although the final score line did flatter the visitors in a game that was closer than it appears.

Littleborough started the game with a kick deep into Rossendale territory, which was chased up quickly to apply pressure onto Rossendale. After a few phases of play, Littleborough looked to have secured a turnover at a ruck until Ben Ludlam and Rhys Tighe combined to drive back over the ball and return the ball to Dale. A quick ball from scrum half, Alex Kilshaw, allowed Jordan Fortune to drive over the gain line, then gave a well-timed pass to Mark Rutherford-Shaw who continued the drive up field. A final pass to Tom Haigh gave him the opportunity to use his pace to slice through the remaining Littleborough defence to score under the posts. The next score came from a scrum, when Dale looked to have lost the ball from their own put in, but a big nudge from the pack regained the ball and Mark Rutherford-Shaw exploited the space on the blind-side to break through to score. In a play very similar to the first try, Rhys Tighe hit a ruck to make sure that Dale retained the ball, and the now-familiar linking between Jordan Fortune and Tom Haigh allowed him to go over for his second try. Despite three relatively quick scores, Littleborough continued to apply the pressure whenever they had the ball, but the Rossendale pack had the upper hand in the scrum, and made it difficult for Littleborough to settle. It was after a period of sustained pressure from Littleborough in the Rossendale twenty-two that the visitors managed to scramble a defence, steal the ball and start regaining territory. This culminated in Ben Ludlam almost scoring, but a Littleborough hand under the ball prevented a try. However, a set move from the resulting 5m scrum saw Ciaran Campbell go over to score with the last play of the first half. With conversions from Ciaran Campbell and James Willetts, the half time score was Littleborough 0-26 Rossendale.

Littleborough used their home advantage well in the second half, and took advantage of the wind and the slope behind them to maintain territory and possession to threaten the Dale try line several times. A perfectly timed tackle from Mark Rutherford-Shaw stopped a certain try in the final metre, forcing a knock-on and a scrum to Dale. From the scrum, a couple of nice interchanges led to Rhys Tighe breaking through the defence, before passing to James Willetts who looked like he was going to make it to the line. Instead, he drew the final defender then popped out a lovely pass to Tom Haigh who crossed the whitewash to score his third try, converted by James Willetts. Littleborough continued to use the wind to look for territory, and when a kick through ended up in the hands of Callum Pelling, he sprinted straight back into the Littleborough half, feeding a pass to Rhys Tighe who broke through the defence to score, again converted by James Willetts. The home side continued to apply the pressure and would not lie down, again threatening the Dale try line looking to score a consolation try until another try-saving tackle from James Willetts a couple of metres out. He ripped the ball from the attacker, then broke through and sprinted through into the Littleborough twenty-two before he was hauled down, but it relieved the pressure on Dale and gave them back some territory. The final try of the game came after Ciaran Campbell had jinked his way through the defence before passing to Idrees Nazir to score. The final score was Littleborough 0-45 Rossendale.

There were several contenders for Man of the match, but it went to Isaac Cornwall, who was key to the dominant scrum, and put in the hard graft around the park at the breakdown.