Rossendale 17-6 Vale of Lune

After securing the top spot in their league last week, attention shifted to the Lancashire Cup competition this week with a visit from Vale of Lune to Marl Pits, and Dale were looking to keep their league and cup double hopes alive with a win. Both sides were evenly matched and for the first half, there was little between the teams until the size of Dale squad eventually wore down the opposition and allowed them to get the upper hand and earn a home fixture against Broughton Park in the Semi-Final next Sunday

The first half was a real arm-wrestle, with both teams trying unsuccessfully to break through the opposition's defence, and whilst Dale had several good opportunities, the speed and effectiveness of the Vale jacklers made it difficult to build any real momentum. It was only a brace of penalties from Vale that gave them a 0-6 lead at half time.

The second half saw Dale attacking down the slope, and with Vale suffering from no substitutes, it was time for the home side to start turning the screw and applying pressure as the visitors tired. The Dale forwards started to play through the phases and take the game to Vale of Lune and eventually Jordan Fortune battered his way over the line to score under the posts with Will Walmsley adding the extras. The short bout of handbags after the score saw the Vale Number 8 receive a yellow card to make their task even harder. However, they withstood the yellow card period without conceding any points until a break by Oliver Molloy, linking up with Tom Unsworth eventually saw Jacob Taylor received the ball and jog over to score his try. Dale's final try came from a free kick about five metres out, taken quickly by Jordan Fortune who drove over to score and close the game Rossendale 17-6 Vale of Lune.

Rossendale's Man of the Match was Jordan Fortune, for a physical and composed performance throughout the game.

Some photographs of the game can be found on our website here