Old Crossleyans 22 Rochdale 54
A magnificent display of attacking rugby engineered by player coach Stevie Collins was far too much for an Old Crossleyans side who looked shell shocked after the first half hour of this match. Rochdale welcomed back line out specialist Chris Hodgkinson and new boy Riley Milson into the pack.
The smallish pitch looked heavy compared with Moorgate Avenue but Dale were soon eating up the ground with high probing kicks by Collins pining the Crossleyans defenders in their own 22. From a line out on the 22 the Dale backs pressed hard and moved the ball well the pack took over 5 metres out but were held up just short of the line a scrum was awarded to the visitors and when the play was stalled on the line the referee had no hesitation awarding a penalty try to Dale 7-0 with a yellow card against the Crossleyans flanker. The home side were soon back on the attack and only some great tackling by the Dale defenders held them at bay, a penalty in front of the posts gave Crossleyans the chance to get on the score sheet and so after 10 minutes played it was 3-7.
A deep kick off by Collins was returned in similar style but fell to Captain Josh Schofield who jinked through the home defence before releasing Tom Hesketh to score near the posts Collins converted so 3-14 with 15 minutes gone, Dale were soon back on the attack with Danny Joesbury linking with his backs in a nice passing move but it was new boy Riley Milsom who was on hand to crash over from close range and give Dale their third try converted by Collins 3-21. In a carbon copy of the previous re-start a deep kick found Collins who sent a looping pass wide to Hesketh an inside pass to full back Schofield who made good yards only to be brought down by a high tackle the penalty kick gave Dale a line out on the home sides 22 and Hodgkinson collected and found Collins who passed into the centre finding Ethan Poole on the charge the big No. 8 was unstoppable and scored under the posts a simple conversion and the bonus points secured saw the score at 3-28 after 20 minutes.
Crossleyans were still in the game and a good passing move saw them with an overlap on the right wing and a good try which was converted 10-28. Dale were soon back deep in the home sides half and with Cliff Howard and Ross Hartley linking with Poole and Callum Hill another penalty for offside gave Collins the chance to place the ball to almost the Crossleyans 5 metre line the line out was lost and the ball cleared to half way another telling run by Schofield saw him link up with Howard the ball came to Collins who jinked in under the posts the conversion followed so Dale were 10-35 up with less than 30 mins. gone. Back came the home side and Dale had to defend well in a ruck on half way wing forward Harry Hayes always in the thick of it was yellow carded so with both sides down to 14 men it was Crossleyans to score next despite Dale defending to the last a try went in and the conversion hitting the crossbar and going over saw the score 17-35.
The game ebbed and flowed but after the 1st scrum of the game Dale a good break by Poole was held on the 10 metre line but the ball came to Collins lurking in space and he cruised in under the posts for his 2nd try of the afternoon simple conversion left the half time score 17-42. A Great first half of attacking rugby by Dale with Crossleyans left reeling most of the time. The second half saw a couple of changes as Ross Hartley and Kyle Parry came off with Milson moving to Hooker and Poole to Prop with Joe Horne coming on at loose forward, a series of scrums in the Dale half were well contested but after being penalized for an early push a line out on the Dale 22 was taken by Crossleyans who ran in a third try not converted 22-42. A glimmer of hope to the home side but not for long as a short kick off by Collins was taken by Poole who saw his pass on the 22 called forward, a high pass to their winger was lost into touch Dale opted for a scrum against a tiring Crossleyans pack the ball came out and Joesbury who had played well at scrum half found Collins who’s short inside pass was snapped up by Schofield who darted in under the posts the conversion followed 22-49.
Dale still had some defending to do but solid work by the pack held the home side who could not score despite having a lot of ball. It was left to Dale following another penalty to place the ball on the Crossleyans 22 where Josh Schofield took the tap down only to be held up short of the line the ball was re-cycle by Collins who found Tom Hesketh powering through to score the conversion fell short so the final score was a resounding 22-54 to Dale who on this form will be hard to stop this season. A well earned rest week next Saturday Dale return to action on the 12th of October at home to Goole.
David Rhodes R.R.U.F.C.
