BILLINGHAM 28 ROSSENDALE 18

Not the best of days for Rossendale losing 28-18 away to Billingham, a result that has pushed the east Lancashire side down to 6th place in National Three North.

This was a fixture against the 9th place side they would have expected to win. As it was a slow start allowed the home side to build up a 'head of steam' to take a 17-3 lead from which they found it difficult to recover.

Rossendale in fact were first on the scoreboard with a penalty from Lewis Allen as Billingham strayed off-side but tries from Adam Radwan and Matt Kirby both converted by Peter Evans who also landed a penalty set up the lead although in the closing minutes of the half
Rossendale did manage to offer some hope with a try from Allen through some enterprising back play on the back of a driving maul for 17-8 at the interval.

In the second half a try by Danny Collins from a catch and drive converted by Allen brought Rossendale into serious contention at 17-15 but a penalty from Evans and try from Luke Wilson put them two scores behind again.
Allen hit a penalty which looked to have secured at the least the losing bonus point but a third penalty from Evans in the closing stages sent the the visitors home with nothing to show for their efforts.

Geoff Lightfoot