Rossendale U14s 30 – 0 Aldwinians U14s

Round 4 of the Blacksticks Lancashire Challenge saw Aldwinians as the visiting team to Marl Pits on Sunday. With both teams level on points, it had the potential to be a tight game. However this was not how it turned out, as the strength and penetrating runs of the Rossendale side were just too much for the visitors in a first-class display of rugby in what became a one-sided game.

The Rossendale coaches had urged the lads to start strongly, and this is exactly what the Dale lads did; Aldwinians took the kick off which was fielded by Idrees Nazir, who made a few metres back before offloading to James Willetts who ran the remainder of the field to score, and also added the extras. Dale’s second try came after a few minutes of them working their way up the field through several of driving runs from the forwards, effective ball retention and recycling into the next phase to pull in the Aldinians defence. The stage was then set for the ball to be passed out to the backs, and into the hands of Ciaran Campbell who made a weaving run through the remains of the visitors’ defence to score. Aldwinians took the restart and went deep into Rossendale territory, with their number 8 making a great chase to put pressure on to Rossendale, forcing a mistake and a scrum on the Rossendale 5m line. Aldwinians won their ball and passed out to their back line, but some good defence and a strong tackle from Rhys TIghe saw the ball turned over and eventually ended up in the hands of James Willetts who ran in to score his second, and Dale’s third, try. The next try came quickly, as Sam Irving fielded the restart and drew in the advancing Aldwinians tacklers before offloading to Mark Rutherford-Shaw just outside the Rossendale 22m, who used his pace and strength to breach the defence and sprint half the length of the pitch to score. James Willetts added the conversion.

It would have been easy for Rossendale to become complacent at this stage or for the Aldwinians team to get dispirited, but neither happened. Dale maintained the pressure and Aldwinians kept trying to get into the game, but Dale’s alertness around the breakdown and ruthless finishing kept them on top. After a series of phases of play involving both forwards and backs, winger Idrees Nazir took the ball into the Aldwinians half at pace and continuing into their 22m. As the Aldwinians defence tried to gather around him, he kept pumping his legs and use his strength to break the tackles and cross the whitewash to score. Scrum half Tom Unsworth had been marshalling the breakdown and distributing the ball very well, and went on to get his name on the scoresheet with a sniping run from the base of a ruck near to the Aldwinians line. It took some determined running to get himself over the line to score. The final score of the game came from a penalty, where Jordan Fortune took the ball into the visitors’ defensive line, before a deft offload to the Man of the Match, Rhys Tighe, who went on to score. With the conversion from Ciaran Campbell, the game ended Rossendale U14s 30 – 0 Aldwinians.

As the competition rules dictate, the margin was too large for the game to continue and Rossendale won the game. The second half was played as a development game, with the lads who don't normally get as much game time given a chance to show what they could do.

The spirit shown by the lads from Aldwinians today showed character and strength - despite being on the wrong end of a heavy defeat, they kept their heads up and went into the second game looking to regain some pride.

In this development game, it also gave some of the Dale lads to try out positions. The excellent style of play continued from Rossendale, good ball retention in the forwards, quick and slow ball from the breakdown as dictated by the circumstances and good supporting runs and ball through the hands. These are all of the attributes that will win games. For the record, Rossendale scored 4 tries (from Mark Rutherford-Shaw, Tom Haigh, Callum Pelling and James Willetts) and Aldwinians scored 2. Ben Ludlam was awarded man of the match for the second game, for his excellent performance in both games and for his match-winning defence at the end where he turned an almost certain Aldwinians score into a Rossendale try with speed of the line and ripping the ball from the attacker.

It was a very pleasing performance in both games - the lads played for each other again, and the passes out and offloads were definitely in evidence today. Most of the tries were scored after one player crossed the gain line, then offloaded to supporting runners who went in to score. It was also very good to see the performance in the second game, they still showed some great phases of play, scored tries and defended well. There are a few players who deserve a mention; thanks to all the lads who sat out of the second game to give some of the lads that don't normally get as much game time a chance. Charlie and Morgan did really well in their first appearances in the front row in the second game. Ciaran had a good run out in new(-ish) positions at fly-half and centre. Tom Unsworth gave a cracking performance in the first game with excellent ball distribution from the base.

Well done lads - I'm off to celebrate with some liquid refreshment.