Rossendale Senior Colts 24-17 Huddersfield YMCA Senior Colts

With no league fixture this week, Rossendale looked to our neighbours from the other side of the Pennines and welcomed Huddersfield YMCA to Marl Pits for their first ever encounter at this age group. It turned out to be a fantastic encounter, with the momentum swinging one way then the other as both teams fought hard to get the upper hand in a very even and very entertaining game that was a great advertisement for Colts' rugby.

After a good win last week, Rossendale's tails were up as they headed into this game and were soon on the score board when a superb catch and drive from a lineout made good progress in to YM's twenty-two and eventually saw Isaac Cornwall peel from the maul to crash over to score with only two minutes on the clock. However, the visitors soon fought back and were edging the game in most areas and saw them score three tries in the first half and end it Rossendale 5-17 Huddersfield YMCA.

The second half gave Rossendale the advantage of the gentle slope and they were almost immediately taking the attack to Huddersfield. After some excellent running from Callum Pelling, Dale made it very close to scoring but a handling error as they went over the line resulted in a scrum to the opposition. After a sustained period of pressure, Dale did manage to get the scoreboard moving soon afterwards when YM transgressed the offside line and gave away a penalty in their twenty-two. A set-piece move, followed by three quick phases saw Mark Rutherford-Shaw dash over to score. Most of the game was now being played in Huddersfield's half and Rossendale had started to gain parity in the scrum, and it was when a loose ball squirted from the back of a scrum in the visitors' twenty-two, lightning reflexes from Hadley Newell allowed him to pounce on the ball and slide over to score. Henry Wilby stepped to up to take the pressure kick to level the score with about five minutes to go. Dale really wanted the win now, and turned the screw with a combination of good forwards work to move the ball upfield and releasing the ball to the backs to make some incisive runs into a tough but tiring YM defence. With the final play of the game, Mark Rutherford-Shaw reached out a stretched arm to dab the ball down to score, with Henry Wilby again adding the extras, and ending the game Rossendale 24-17 Huddersfield YMCA.

There were many contenders for Rossendale's Man of the Match in this game, but it was awarded to Hadley Newell for the huge amount of work he delivered, topped off with a vital try.