Rossendale u14s 33 – 3 Littleborough U14s

A wet and windy day welcomed Littleborough U14s to Marl Pits for the second round game of the Blacksticks Blue Lancashire Challenge against Rossendale.

Travelling with only 14 players, Littleborough were always going to face a tough challenge, and it was Dale who struck first after several strong phases of forwards play. Rhys Tighe picked up from the base of the scrum and made a driving 40m run into Littleborough territory, with Hashim Khan recycling the ball well and making further inroads, before a final pop to Isaac Cornwall who drove over to score. James Willetts added the extras. However, Littleborough defended well, and despite the man advantage, Dale were unable to capitalise on it, with only further score in the first half being a penalty kicked over by Littleborough. The half ended Rossendale 7 – 3 Littleborough.

In the second half, Dale were able to use their bench to good effect, swapping a few players to provide some fresh legs, and this advantage started to show almost from the kick off. The Littleborough full back caught the Dale restart and cleared the ball, only to see it land in the hands of Rhys Tighe, who surged through the defenders, only to be stopped by a high tackle immediately penalised by the referee. James Willetts took a quick tap and go, before handing the ball back to Rhys Tighe to cross the whitewash. Littleborough were using the kicking game to try to get behind the Dale defence, but when a ball went into the hands of Mark Rutherford-Shaw at full back, he weaved his way back down-field, before passing to James Willetts, and in turn to Idrees Nazir to score his try. Dale’s next try again came from a nice passage of play, with the forwards using the pick and drive well for several phases, when Hashim Khan picked up from the base of the ruck and smashed through to score. Dale’s final try of the game came from another pick up at number 8, and with the Littleborough defenders finding him unstoppable, Rhys Tighe went over for his second try. With all 4 successful conversions from James Willetts, the half, and game, ended Rossendale 33 – 3 Littleborough.

Today’s man of the match was awarded to Rhys Tighe for work rate, aggression and effort all around the pitch.

Today was another strong showing from the lads, with some excellent individual performances, but also plenty of great team work and spirit evident too. The rucking today, from both forwards and backs, was exemplary; the scrum and lineouts all worked very well, and the support running again was generally very good. Well done lads - enjoy the win as we look to the upcoming fixtures against Colne & Nelson, Fylde, Leigh and Eccles in November.