Blackpool U12s 0 – 49 Rossendale U12s

Rossendale started the match against a set of big & strong players from Blackpool and for the first five minutes looked like it was going to be a close competition. When Luke Bartram pounced on a loose ball at the breakdown, the ball was quickly recycled and Jordan Fortune drove strongly over the line for Dale’s first. PJ Butler added the conversion. Dale added to the score immediately from the restart, after full-back Ciaran Campbell caught the ball, and scythed his way through the advancing Blackpool defence to score his first try. The ever reliable PJ Butler added the extras. Three further first half tries, from Sam Irving, Jordan Fortune and Joe Simpson, all converted by PJ Butler saw dale go into the break with a healthy lead.

Due to one of their players feeling a little under the weather, George Allen nobly volunteered to play the second half for Blackpool, and this made for a slight more even second half. It started off with 10 minutes of the rugby equivalent of an arm-wrestle, with both sides making advances but not being able to break the defence until Ciaran Campbell spotted a gap and ran through to score, again converted by PJ Butler. With five minutes on the clock, Ciaran Campbell went over for his third, and what was to be Dale’s final, try and PJ Butler slotted the conversion. Man of the match went to Joe Simpson for all round work rate and aggression.

It was a great performance from all the lads; good defence and strong tackling, surging runs and solid support play and excellent discipline throughout. Because of the squad size and the reduced numbers playing, all the lads showed an excellent attitude when roll on and off the bench, so a big thanks and well done to all, especially to the U11s George Allen, Joe Simpson and Ben Flanagan for playing up this week. Let’s build on this next week at what will be a sterner test away at Bolton.