Fleetwood Flounder Rossendale

. A light breeze, moderate temperature and reasonably firm footing augured well for an open running game.

Fleetwood got the game underway and for the next 10 minutes both sides had their fair share of possession probing and testing each other's defences. Haig Haworth and Nathan Waddington battled hard in the centre to try and breakthrough whilst Nuri Stoner and Tyler Johnson combined well with Reece Howarth and Joe Starkie adding some weight and power to force the attack. In defence Dan Dunham, Noah Taylor and Bradley Watts, stood firm to thwart any Fleetwood challenges.

Finally, the visitors got their chance and scored their first try and within 3 minutes they had scored again, peeling off a maul inside Rossendale's 22 and crossing the line.

Rossendale restarted and chased the ball down to put immediate pressure on Fleetwood, pinning them in their own 22. The visitors fought hard to win ground and slowly made their way up field into their opponents 22. Fin Wilby and Cai Astley harried the attackers, John Wayne looked sharp when the ball ran loose and Will Whinton refused to allow the visitors time to settle until eventually they gave away a penalty. A quick tap was fed to Ieuan Dwyfor-Jones who set off on a run, determined to get his side back in the game. His speed and strength took him past the first line of defence and he shrugged off the final efforts to stop him and crossed the line. Rowan Hopkinson converted from a difficult angle and the margin was reduced to 3 points.

Unfortunately this was the high point of the match for Rossendale and Fleetwood gradually gained the upper hand as the Rossendale tackling became sloppy and the rucks poorly contested. Fleetwood were able to run in 5 more try's, with no answer from the home side.
Not one of Rossendale U13’s better performances but the signs are still there for the team to be a class outfit. Just need to keep the intensity up for the full game and not just for 5 minute bursts. Back to basics for the next 2 weeks at training and hopefully will regroup and finish the season off well.
The slight changes made by the coaches didn’t work this week, and they hold their hands up to that, but strength in depth is required as we progress through the next few years.
Rossendale man of the match was Ieuan Dwyfor-Jones for his excellent solo effort in scoring the try.