Seconds make hard work of the New Years opener

Well it was a close call down on the Wirral peninsular for the Second team from Rossendale Rufc on Saturday just gone. Both firsts and seconds travelled down by coach together to play the corresponding teams from Anselmians and a buzz was awash on the team bus.
First game back after the festive season and into the New Year with both of our local sides having finished 2023 with a roar. Sadly for the seconds if this game against the leagues bottom dwellers had been a mission to blow out the excess of mince pies and festive cheer and turn on a try fest Anselmians had other ideas. But it wasn't just Anselmians causing the problems as a frustrated Coach Dutton explained. He saw to much of the players stood watching instead of getting involved at breakdowns ,loose passes and to coin the old cliche "Faces instead of spaces" meaning players seemed more intent to run in to the opponents rather than looking for spaces around them.
Nonetheless it was Rossendale who came up with the goods first after 11 minutes when Scott Jordan crossed the line with AJ Potgieter adding the extra 2 points. On 23 minutes however Anselmians fought their way back into the game with a converted try themselves and then took the lead with a penalty kick just before half time.
The score remained at 10-7 for all the second half up until the 70 minute mark when Israr Asif drove his way over the line. Suddenly Rossendale were back in the game but it was a slender lead. Fortunately Rossendale now had the momentum to push back into the home sides territory and were awarded two penalties in the last few minutes from Anselmians indiscretions which AJ Potgieter slotted over the sticks to add a further six points onto Dales tally. The game finished with a score line of 18 -10 to Dale and great sighs of relief from all that were watching on Rossendales side.
Not the best start but a win is a win and because of the results from other league matches that day Rossendale moved up into 5th place and also put some daylight between them and the second six teams in the table. They will have to be on their guard this coming weekend however when they face another away day against the old foes Lymm.