Northwich 14-36 Rossendale

Rossendale travelled to Northwich for the final game of the league campaign, knowing that only a win would be good enough to take the top spot in Division E of the Halbro North West Senior Colts league. Despite the recent spell of poor weather, pleasant conditions and a pitch in reasonable conditions greeted the teams and promised a good encounter. Throughout the game both teams fought hard, some some resolute defending and fierce tackles on both sides, but Rossendale's strength and composure across the team gave them the edge.

Rossendale scored first after a period of pressure in Northwich's twenty-two, with the final phase coming after Mark Rutherford-Shaw took the ball into contact in the middle, and presented clean ball for Alex Kilshaw to quickly ship out to Idrees Nazir who made a few metres and drew the defence before passing out along the line. Ciaran Campbell received the pass and ran hard into the defensive line, before passing out to Oliver Molloy to jink past the last man and run over to score. Rossendale fielded the restart, but a mis-communication saw the ball knocked on, which enabled Northwich to pounce and quickly get themselves ahead on the scoreboard with a converted try. The next score came from a penalty where Dale opted for the scrum. Mark Rutherford-Shaw picked up from the base, making good inroads into the home side's territory and again presented clean ball which was shipped out to Max Lyth and finally to Ciaran Campbell who made managed to slice through the Northwich defence, with Max Lyth adding the extras. The next ten minutes were spent with Rossendale camped in the Northwich twenty-two, but Northwich defended valiantly and Dale were unable to break through. The breakthrough came after a clearance kick to touch on the ten metre line gave Rossendale a lineout which they secured and set up a drive which saw them march all the way over the try line, allowing Idrees Nazir to drop over and score, with Jordan Fortune adding the extras. Dale's tails were up now, and they worked sensible through the phases with the forwards working hard to create quick ball, sucking in the defence before letting the backs loose with the ball and it was following this style of play that saw the ball passed out from a ruck to Max Lyth, then Oliver Molloy to Tom Unsworth hitting the line at pace. As the tackler came in, the ball was popped out to Jacob Taylor who still needed to beat three defenders before scoring under the posts, with Oliver Molloy scoring the conversion.

It appeared that of the two half-time team talks, the Northwich one was more effective. They tightened up their game, playing to their strengths and were soon rewarded with a try after a series of pick and drives. They continued to disrupt Rossendale, who struggled to regain any momentum. It took about fifteen minutes for Dale to regain the composure and shape, building phases and gaining territory and eventually scored after about fifteen phases of play, pulling the defence from right to left and back again, until the ball was passed to Max Lyth, who fed Ciaran Campbell again running a hard line, before popping to Jordan Fortune and finally to Oliver Molloy to jink round to score, with Oliver Molloy also adding the conversion. A few more minutes ensued, of both teams applying the pressure but the defences kept the upper hand until Dale worked their way down into the Northwich five metre area and Hadley Newell picked up and drove through the ruck and dropped down with the ball, and with the conversion missed, the game ended Northwich 14-36 Rossendale. Rossendale's joint Man of the Match award went to Isaac Cornwall and Mark Rutherford-Shaw for their untiring effort up front, with special mention to Max Lyth for an exceptional performance playing at fly half.

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