Firwood Waterloo 32 Rossendale 30

Sam Atiola’s hat-trick was not enough for Rossendale as they narrowly lost away against Firwood Waterloo following a last-gasp penalty, dropping to ninth in National Three North in the process.

Rossendale outscored their opponents five tries to four and were the better team for lengthy periods but were made to pay for their shortcomings from the tee.

They had in fact led 20-12 at half-time with Atiola running in a pair of tries while Ryan Mckibbin also crossed the whitewash for the visitors. Fly-half Steve Nutt made up the halfs total scoring with 5 points from the tee, made up of a single conversion and a penalty.

After the break, Atiola touched down his third following 10 phases of play before Leyton Taylor also crossed the whitewash for the visitors after a splendid interception, 22-30.

The hosts then got back into it through a score from forward Jack Weare with fly-half Reeve converting to reduce the deficit to just one point, setting up a grandstand finish.

And then with the time literally up, the host’s number 10 retained his composure from just inside halfway to snatch the win, 32-30.
Rossendale will look to get back to winning ways next Saturday when they welcome Huddersfield Y.M.C.A, who are in 11th place, to Lancashire.

Steve Smith.