Wintery Test for Young Bucks

Rossendale Captain, Ieuan Dwyfor-Jones won the toss and elected to take the kickoff and Rowan Hopkinson got the game underway for the local lads.

The Liverpool side took possession and surged forward clearly intent on getting an early score. The Dale defence stood firm however with the forwards slowing the ball down, forcing the visitors to work through several phases before eventually getting the ball out wide, Dan Dunham at full back was up fast however and performed the first of many fearless tackles to deny the opposition the score. The visitors continued to pile on the pressure and were finally rewarded with a try after a fierce opening spell of rugby.

From the restart Rossendale followed up quickly, Nathan Wells, Noah Taylor and Tyler Johnson putting in some big hits on their opposite numbers to try and regain possession, forcing Liverpool to knock on. At the scrum, despite an obvious weight advantage on the visitors side, the Rossendale pack performed very well. Props Reece Howarth and Nuri Stoner gave no ground and provided a solid front row throughout the match, giving scrum half Nathan Waddington the opportunity to pick up clean ball at the back of the scrum. Bradley Watts, at fly half took full advantage of the quick ball and made some telling breaks but never quite managed to clear the last line of defence. Similarly, Cai Astley and Fin Wilby showed good strength and footwork to evade the tackles and hold possession.

Liverpool St. Helens did have some big strong runners and despite some heroic tackling from all the Young Bucks, notably Josh Beeken, Will Whinton and a try saving tackle from Rowan Hopkinson, the visitors ran in three more try's, converting two of them for a half time lead of 24 points.

As the second half commenced hail stones contributed to the inclement weather conditions. The Liverpool St. Helens kick off did not travel 10m so Rossendale elected for a scrum on the half way. The Rossendale pack performed well again allowing No. 8 Ieuan Dwyfor-Jones to pick up from the back of the set piece and begin a powerful run, he almost broke through, only a last ditch defence from the visitors bringing him down just short of the 22. Rossendale managed to maintain possession from the ruck, John Wayne took on the attack with good support from Rowan Hopkinson and Noah Taylor.

The try was not to come however and Liverpool St. Helens came back on the attack, bringing the best out of the Rossendale defence. As the match came to its conclusion Rossendale Coaches were so impressed with the gutsy never say die performance of their players that they awarded them all with man of the match.