Rossendale Senior Colts 15-15 Marple Senior Colts

Rossendale played hosts to Marple on Sunday looking for revenge after their narrow defeat in the preliminary league meeting. Both sides came into the game with their tails up after big wins last week, so it promised to be an interesting encounter. And what a cracking game of rugby it turned out to be. The pendulum swung one way, then the other as the two sides tried to gain the upper hand, and in the end a draw was a fair result.

Marple got themselves on the scoreboard with a superb long range penalty awarded for a high tackle just inside Rossendale's half. However, the pendulum was back in Dale's favour shortly afterwards when Tom Unsworth caught a clearance kick in his own twenty-two and sprinted down the field to score, evading a couple of defenders and slipping the tackles of two more on his way. Rossendale appeared to be edging it during the next few minutes play, with Morgan Cornell stealing lineouts and a series of penalties for transgressions by Marple, but it soon changed again when Marple took control of the ball and brought the play right up to Dale's line, but knocked on and relieved the pressure on Dale. However, they won the resulting scrum against the head and moved the ball out to the right wing, stretching Dale's defence and managed to outnumber the defence and score. As the half was approaching the end, Jacob Taylor made a break and almost made it through to score, but he was brought down short with an excellent tap-tackle. Unfortunately for Marple, their Number 8 dived straight onto the player on the ground and was awarded a yellow card for his troubles. Rossendale looked to exploit the man advantage, and were rewarded soon after when Isaac Cornwall picked up from the base of a ruck, before passing to second-row come winger Ben Whitehead, who sprinted through to score and end the half Rossendale 10-8 Marple.

Dale were on the scoreboard again not long into the second half, after a penalty was awarded about ten metres out. The set play saw Josh Harrison barrel his way through the defence to score. Once Marple were back to their full complement, the game evened up again, although the physicality of the game, and the effort being put in by players from both sides was beginning to show. Marple managed to get the ball out wide and saw their winger sprinted in to score. The conversion levelled the score and led to a tense final ten minutes whilst both teams looked to grab the winner. Neither team could though, and with neither side deserving to lose in this enthralling and exciting game, it finally ended Rossendale 15-15 Marple.

Credit to both sides for a great game played in good spirit right to the end. Rossendale's Man of the Match was a difficult decision, with every player making a real impact in the pitch, but it was awarded to Morgan Cornell for his excellent work in the lineouts.