Rossendale Senior Colts 15-15 Whitchurch

Whitchurch returned to Marl Pits looking to avenge their narrow defeat of the last game on a cold but sunny Sunday afternoon and created a very close and entertaining game between two well matched sides. From the outset, Rossendale looked to gain the upper hand, with some string individual runs into the visitors’ defensive line and looked to be going through to score when the ball popped loose and a Whitchurch boot hoofed the ball up field. The speedy Whitchurch backs hared after the ball and looked to be in for a certain try until Callum Pelling raced the length of the field and beat the Whitchurch attacker to the ball, dabbing down for a twenty-two drop out. Rossendale kept up the pressure with quick ball from the ruck and mixing up a few phases of forwards play, then out through the hands to work to stretch the Whitchurch defence. Hadley Newell made a break through the line, but was stopped about five metres from the try line. The ball recycled quickly and was moved out to the right wing where Will Peel almost scored, then moved back to the left wing for Matthew Derbyshire to also nearly get over. As he was stopped just short of the line, Callum Pelling quickly picked up the ball to dive over, but was again held back by resolute Whitchurch defence. Jordan Fortune scooped up the recycled ball and finally broke the defence to get over to score. Whitchurch then fought back, applying the pressure and were able to level the scores with a try of their own a few minutes later. Dale were soon back on top again after Tom Unsworth made a jinking run from half way and looked to be on his way to the try line down the left when he was stopped, and worked hard to get the ball down and back to continue the attack, The ball was fed out from the ruck to Mark Rutherford-Shaw, who ran across the line looking for a weakness in the defence that did not appear, so passed the ball through the hands of both Centres out to the right wing. Callum Pelling received the ball, but still had a lot of work to do to evade the scrambling defence and dive over to score. As the clock ticked towards half time, the referee’s patients was tested with a series of poor discipline and too many penalties which saw Oliver Molloy receive a yellow card, putting Rossendale down to 14 men for seven minutes. Whitchurch were applying the pressure again now until Ciaran Campbell charged down a kick through, chased and gathered it, and sprinted most of the length of the field to score.

The second half was more of the same, with the Dale packing edging it in the scrums, but the quick backs of Whitchurch an ever-present danger. Idrees Nazir managed to get over the line, but was unable to ground the ball and the even contest continued with neither side able to convert periods of pressure into points until Dale went down to 14 men again, after Max Lyth was rewarded with a yellow card for a tackle that was adjudged to be too high. Whitchurch capitalised on this, and were able to score two tries in quick succession to level the score. When back to the full contingent, Rossendale kept taking the game to Whitchurch retaining the majority of the possession and territory, but were unable to convert good scoring opportunities into points. Despite a number of spirited attacks from both sides, the defences held firm and there were no further scores, ending the game Rossendale 15-15 Whitchurch. Rossendale’s man of the match went to Hadley Newell for a great all-round performance.