Rossendale shine through in great day of Lakeside action

The pre tournament build up gathered momentum as the week progressed - the soothsayers predicted tempest, hail and even thunder, parents shuddered at the thought of damp canvas, families sensibly packed cars for a trek to the North pole. Concerns were well founded as we left Rossendale with all the worst elements which the Heavens could muster. Imagine our surprise when the sun shone through in Cumbria - and so it showed that Gary could even organise the weather on cue - truly jaw dropping as we set up camp in short sleeves and later on as the junior section gathered in high spirits around the fire.
We were in a group with Liverpool Collegiate and 2 teams with international billing - the Watsonian Warriors from
Edinburgh.. The troops were marshalled , or more accurately herded into shape for the first match with Liverpool. Parents lined up tea cups and other assorted flying objects to ensure order and the match got underway. The game set the tone for the contest and it was obvious that 2 evenly matched teams were locking horns. Rossendale started well, good strong running, great support and nice flowing passes brought about some good scores but poor tagging and conceding space too easily allowed Liverpool to trade tries , neck and neck. Urged on by the travelling support, Rossendale fought their way to a 6-5 advantage with final play before time - " thou shalt not pass" was the motto and so we allowed them through to level, 6-6. The hair dryer was set to low , there were many strong pointers but we needed to tighten the defensive resolve. Rowan Tweedale promised to sort it. Nobody argued. Tom Whittaker had made a very welcome return to the team and marked it with a deserved try. Tom Leech set off like the Roadrunner and left scorched earth in his wake for 2 tries, Ieuan Bissell also with 2 and Dan Stevens completed the scoring.
Match 2 was Watsonians A, complete with bibs. We responded well, Rowan did sort the defence line and he scored a try too. Leechy said he was tired and asked to come off - substitution refused, he ran in 3 tries faster than in game 1. Yi chipped in with a brace and a 6-4 win was completed. The first champagne moment of the weekend arrived in this game. As we are from Rossendale and no City slickers, we refused an offer to go off in hail - during this 2 minutes, Jack Tracey chased and missed 2 tags, but kept at it until he blocked the Scots at the third attempt - rousing stuff. Rowan nodded with due approval.
Match 3 and we were psyched up, we'd heard Watsonians best team were next and that they were dangerous - warnings were justified as they surged into a 2-0 lead and the crowd fell subdued. The trouble was caused by a strong running lanky lad who was darn fast ! Cue champagne moment 2- Jason " the Tiger" Wilkinson was assigned to mark him and did a great impression of a gazelle, matching the speed and denying him space to exploit the pace. It made all the difference. We pulled one back from Leechy and then Dan wriggled through on the half way line, bent his legs and then stretched out to level - cue pandemonium, game on 2-2. Momentum was ours, and first Ieuan , then Luke Entwistle sealed it, 4-2, absolute corker of a performance, heroes all round the park, the crowd - and coaches - went wild .
Unfortunately match 4 was sprung on us in just 15 minutes - we were not ready for it, everyone was up in the clouds and buzzing. It was Liverpool again - and just like the morning we saw a tense and evenly matched encounter between 2 good teams giving it the " full monty. They defended well, fair play, solid defence, well drilled and denying our fast chaps the space to break free. We gave it our all - the lads fought hard and again traded tries evenly. The attacking play was great, Jamie Boxall charged through on a number of runs, and Tyler Lusty too pushed forwards with a couple of direct surges. We conceded early but Yi scored and then Dan scored replica tries, driving hard through the Liverpool defence to get us to half time at 3-3. Leechy and Yi scored again in the second half but we were out done again in the final moments, this time going down 5-6, so on the day just that try separating the teams. We were not despondent. The lads had been great all day, the season was coming to their last day of tag rugby with the tournament very much alive - 2 games to win would ensure we contested the final. It looked likely to be Liverpool but the Warriors awaited with both their teams on Sunday, so still a job to do.
We retired to the camp, the threat of rain was there but Gary had arranged that it would not rain and so we collapsed into sleeping bags awaiting day 2 with excited anticipation and nervous trepidation. Day 2 instalment plus under 7 round up will follow............