Blacksticks warm up

The Indian Summer that we are enjoying provided the perfect playing conditions for a friendly encounter between Littleborough
and Rossendale under 14s at the Hollingworth Lake ground near Rochdale this Sunday morning 11th October.
Rossendale kicked off and came under immediate pressure as a strong run from Littleborough caught the visitors off guard and
they put themselves on the scoreboard within the first minute.
They repeated this tactic instantly from the re-start and put another 5 points on the board despite missing both the conversions
they were 10 points ahead. Rossendale were shaken and started to put in some stiff tackles, Fin Wilby and Haig Haworth
targeted their men and slowed down the next ‘Boro attack causing the home side to knock on. This gave the opportunity for the
Young Stags to exercise their muscle, in matches so far this season the scrum has been a strong point for Rossendale, today was
no exception and the front eight took charge of the set piece and throughout the remainder of the match they controlled this
area of play giving the rest of the team an opportunity to use the ball.
A scrum just inside their own 22 led to Rossendales 1st Try as Nathan Waddington at No:9 gathered from the back of his pack
and quickly fed out to Brad Watts who made a quick break drawing his man before offloading to Haig Howarth, he broke
through two defenders and passed out to Tom Moore waiting on the wing, he still had some distance to cover but used his
speed and strength to power over the line for Rossendale’s first score capped by a solid conversion from Tyler Johnson.
Littleborough responded with a try after intercepting a pass and running almost the length of the field stringing together a series
of competent passes then grounding the ball under the posts to ease the conversion and get the full 7 points. Shortly afterwards
they earned themselves a further seven points using their big players to barge through the brave Rossendale defence, despite
excellent tackling from Dan Dunham and fearless work from Ieuan Dwyfor-Jones.
Will Winton made some impressive ground, charging up the middle of the park and was well supported by Noah Taylor and Jo
Starkie who where always quick to the breakdown bringing the best out of the Littleborough defence.
The boys from The Valley soon struck back this time from a well worked lineout move, just inside the opposition’s half. Using just
three men in the line the ball was thrown to Reece Howarth who secured possession then made ground before offloading on
the 22, to Brad Watts who cut through the first barrier of defence and then neatly sidestepped the full back to cross the line.
The Second Half was similarly contested with Rossendale working tirelessly to contain the big Littleborough runners, Toby
Mansley on the right wing put in some good work and Elliot Newell showed plenty of aggression to win the ball back for his side
to set up Rossendale’s 1st try of the half releasing Tom Moore once again, scattering the defence he eventually dragged the full
back over the line with him before grounding the ball.
Littleborough were quick to strike back and followed up with two more converted tries before Rossendale were rewarded by
an excellent effort from Josh Beeken, who had replaced Nathan Waddington at Scrum half, seizing the ball from another solid
scrum he darted forward and despite being enveloped by several defenders clung onto the ball and crossed the try line.
Next it was Littleborough’s turn to score almost straight from the kick off catching Rossendale napping much as they had done
early in the 1st half , they ran in two quick tries.
Brad Watts scored his second with a quickly taken tap penalty after Rossendale had built up some pressure forcing the home
side into a spate of high tackles which brought a penalty on the 5m line.
The Dale continued to force mistakes from the opposition and began to opt for the scrum in order to benefit from their
dominance in this area and this led to their fifth and final try of the morning. Josh Beeken had time to weigh his options due to
another well executed scrum and he fed the ball to Nuri Stoner who had just broken contact with his front row and then
battled a good ten yards before scoring the try.
Littleborough had the final say with a converted try in the last minute of the match.
The two sides meet again next week at Marl Pits for a Blacksticks league encounter.
Final Score: Littleborough 61 Rossendale 32