Games between these two sides have always tended to be fractious affairs and this was no exception with five yellow cards three for Rossendale and two for Wirral dished out by the referee.

The home side were on the back foot from the start as the opposition should a real direct and cutting edge with some clever interplay allowed Chris Crowley to cross for the opening score, James Annetts adding the conversion for a 0-7 lead after just four minutes.

Rossendale soon hit back with some neat sleight of hand from Danny Solomona got the supporting Byron McGuigan over for Rossendale, Lewis Allen’s conversion levelling matters a 7-7.

Wirral came again with a try for Tom Akehurst converted by Annettsbut with the Rossendale pack beginning to make their presence felt, a scrum on the opposition 22 and with the ball spun wide McGuigan danced through near to the posts, Allen’s conversion levelling the cores for the second time.

On the half hour good play between McGuigan and Solomona, the centres neat grubber through creating the opportunity for Zac Stephens to collect and cross for the third and give the Lancashire side the lead for the first time.

It did not last long as Akehurst went over for his second with Annetts’ conversion restoring the visitors advantage.

However from a scrum penalty five metres out the Rossendale pack drove over the line for Matt Lamprey to claim the touch down with Allen’s conversion affording a 26-21 lead for the home side at the interval.

From the restart Rossendale really put the pressure on and from a tap penalty Liam Canning drove over before Cane Bevan through a long pass blind side from a scrum for Mcguigan to dot down under the post, Allen landed both to give the Marl Pits side a 40-21 lead.

Wirral came back through Rhys James but with McGuigan claiming his fourth, Allen adding the extras the result was by and large sewn up.
Both sides conceded penalty tries before Rossendale had the final say as McGuigan with a pass inside for the supporting Olly Molloy brought up the nineth, again Allen slotting the conversion.

After the final whistle head coach McGuigan was obviously pleased with the outcome and the way in which his side had approached the game.

“Forwards showed real dominance all game, the set piece laying a great platform for the backs to look dangerous and score some fantastic team tries. Star man was Zac Stephens who had a fantastic game from the kick off"

As for the opposition he added.
“Wirral showed some great fight all game through some adversity and ended up with a maul try towards the end for their efforts.’’
This coming Saturday Rossendale are at home again to newly promoted Leek. Leek have a reputation for good defence while the Stags will take confidence from scoring 61 points. Should be competitive game,” he concluded.

Geoff Lightfoot