Guts Not Enough To Topple League Leaders...

Stockport 33 – 22 RossendaleRossendale were left wondering how they managed to lose to league leaders Stockport following this latest National 3 North encounter at Headlands Road. In perfect conditions Rossendale set off like the proverbial bull at the gate and throughout the opening encounters were the only team on the pitch, working hard to retain possession, pouncing on all the league leaders errors and attacking with pace but failing to capitalise on their industry until the 17th minute. Stockport were penalised for interfering in the ruck and captain Bramhall opened Dales account, 0 – 3.The home sides riposte was quick in coming, a long, raking kick from well inside their own half was bundled into touch 15m out in the face of an organised kick chase. Stockport cut their line to 5 men, caught and drove over for a simple try. 5 – 3Bebbington adding the extras for a 5 point lead on the 20min mark. 8 – 3And 8 minutes later, Dale found themselves on the receiving end of a "carbon copy" of the play that resulted in the opening try. This time the visitors "sacked" the line outs’ initial drive but Keys was deemed guilty of collapsing the subsequent maul illegally and was dismissed to cool his heels in the sin bin.Reduced to 7 men Rossendale conceded another try as ‘Port took the numerical advantage, Stockport scoring on the left wing after a deft chip over the defence was eagerly collected and touched down. 12 – 3Again, Bebbington on the mark for the extra 2. 14 – 3Minus their hooker Rossendales’ lineout went into meltdown. Stockport stole a Rossendale put in at a lineout and a despondent looking Dale side watched as Stockport scrum half waltzed through some very lacklustre defence to stretch the home sides lead further. 19 – 3And another Bebbington conversion piled more misery on the beleaguered visitors. 21 – 3To their credit though Rossendale took up the gauntlet and continued their attacking game but could not breach the home defence before the half.HT 21 – 3The second period began with Rossendale in no doubt as to what needed doing, patience and self belief being the order of the day. But Stockport were in full flow, and capitalised on more poor defence to score another after just 6mins. 26 – 3Once more the conversion sailed home. 28 – 3For most sides that would have been "gameover", but with nothing left to lose Rossendale began a remarkable fightback, bullocking runs by Taylor and Pole along with the incisive nouse of Albinson, Wood and Appleton driving the league leaders back deep into their own 22. And following fully 12 phases Bramhall wriggled his way over for Dales 1st try of the afternoon. 28 – 8The captain also provided the conversion. 28 – 10This was all the incentive the valley side needed, and from the restart they set about their opponents in much the same fashion. Fontaine showing considerable pace through the tiniest of gaps to penetrate the home defence before feeding Dennison, who committed the last defender and fed Harper for a sublime score wide out on the right. 28 – 15The kick was however beyond the means of Bramhall. 28 – 15Dale could now sniff an upset and tore into Stockport once more, producing phase after phase of recycled ball and forcing the leagues top side into full defence mode. With 10 mins left Dale were awarded a 5m scrum, and as Bramhall ran wide to attract the defence Pole picked from the base and bludgeoned his way over the right hand blindside. 28 – 20Bramhall on target to close the gap further. 28 – 22With minutes left on the clock Stockport dug deep and managed to play some rugby of their own, pushing quick ball wide to their left to close the game and deny Dale a remarkable result. 33 – 22Quote MJB" We showed remarkable spirit in the 2nd half to reduce the deficit in that manner, but were unfortunate in the early encounters not to have produced considerably more points. Our loose play and broken field running was scintillating at times and we can attack well with ball in hand – that said there is lots to do on our 1st phase(Scrummage and Lineout) and our kicking game was a long way from where we’d like it to be. Stockport showed us that you really must take all your chances in this league. We performed well but not well enough. The trip to Middlesborough next week will be an even more vital game in the light of this result. This is a very tight league, and with the bonus points system used here we can’t afford to let hard fought try scoring opportunities slip through our fingers like they did today"Rossendale travel north to Middlesborough next week – kickoff 1415