Plenty of Festive cheer as the Rossendale Seconds finish 2023 with a good win.

After the previous two weekends matches fell foul to the ice and rain it was a short jaunt over the Grane Road for the Second team of Rossendale RUFC to take on near neighbours and arch rivals Blackburn.
Plenty to get excited about as both sides were relatively close in the league standings and being the last game of 2023 before the Christmas break it was certainly a must must win game.
The Dale lads started strongly enough and it was quite evident from the early stages that Dale had the edge particularly in the forwards and from the first scrum to the very last the Rossendale pack dominated Blackburn even pushing them back several metres on more than one occasion. Despite the early dominance the Dale side just couldn't get over to score. Mistakes were a plenty with handling errors or by taking the wrong option and giving the Blackburn defence an easier time than they should of had. With all the pressure adding to nought it was Blackburn that then chased the game and some poor tackling centre field allowed speedy runners to quickly get the home side up in to Dales 22. But with the boot on the other foot it was Dales turn to muscle up in defence and that they did in style. The rush defence got straight into the faces of the Blackburn attack, pushed Burn back and resulted in many loose passes going to ground . Joe Robertson Maher came up with some cracking hits , text book tackling right into the midriff and leg driving the attacker several yards back.
The impetus was once again with Rossendale who gained a penalty after a good chase on a kick down field . A quick tap saw the ball come to Israr Asif and after a good drive towards the Burn line the ball found its way to Olly Molloy who jinxed his way over the line to get the first points on the board half way through the first half . AJ Potgieter added the conversion and Rossendale were good for the 7-0 lead. Whilst Dale remained the more dominant side for the rest of the half the theme of the game continued with Rossendale spurning several more chances and were perhaps guilty of pushing the ball a little to much such was the eagerness from the team . On other occasions Dale tried to make the training ground moves when it might of been easier to play what was before them and some yawning gaps in the defensive line went begging. Whilst Blackburn gave Dale a few more scares before the half was out the Rossendale defence remained solid and was a credit to the lads.
The start of the second half was much a repeat of the first , whilst Rossendale continued their momentum Blackburn still kept their hand in the game with some swift runners gaining yards . Ten minutes into the half it was Dale pushing forward into the home sides 22 when the young prop Bobbi Smith got hold of the ball and drove into the first defender literally blitzing him out of the way , the second and third defenders came to the same fate and the full back had no chance of stopping an absolute steam roller of a run. Smiths first try for Rossendale , what a way to score and what a future ahead . AJ Potgeiter was on point for the conversion and at 14-0 Dale had a bit more breathing room.
Some of what Rossendale had been faltering on through the game started to come off now that the nerves and adrenaline had settled, it was from a further foray into Burns half and some excellent forward work again that paved the way for Cameron Crampton to make a dart through a gap and outpace any chasing defenders to score a great try.
Things were moving well now and despite Blackburn still being a thorn in the side of Dale and refusing to lie down another move soon followed which saw the ball sweep right across the backs and into the hands of Toby Cole who scorched in at the corner with some blistering pace. 24-0 now and the game firmly in Rossendales control. The dream of more points was not to be however and the game sort of petered out and faded away both through an injury to Rossendales Captain who had to leave the field after some stoppage combined with an excessive amount of scrummaging. The score line remained at 24 -0. Whilst this was a great win on paper for the lads and most pleasing the fact that Dale managed to nil their opponents whilst gaining an attacking bonus point you couldn't help feel that it could of been so much more. Credit to Blackburn though for sticking with it throughout the game.
Some great all round performances , AJ was good at ten , the pack was excellent as a whole with George Peel hitting up strongly in attack and defence. Star of the match though went to Joe Robertson Maher for his tackling contribution and all round work load.