Rochdale 20 Scarborough 33
On a mild sunny afternoon at the impressive Silver Royd Stadium, Rochdale fielded a strong side against Scarborough who beat them narrowly in the same fixture last year, a big crowd had turned out to see the league leaders and a close game was expected. Dale saw the return of Harry Hayes and Emerson Lopez in the pack and Jacob Jackson at 2nd row. The 1st half came to life when the home sides No 8 was yellow carded and Collins went for a scrum in front of the posts rather than a kick at goal, the ball went out to Cliff Howard on the wing but he just put a foot in touch as he rounded the full back.
It was 25 minutes before the score board was used when the Scarborough centre Drew Govier went in for the first try this was converted 7-0. It was Tom Hesketh who got Dale on the score sheet with a powerful break through the centre the conversion went wide so 7-5. Dale defended well to leave the half Time score at 7-5.
The 2nd half saw some good breaks by Dale but the final pass was never there and in fact it was the home side who should have scored next with a series of scrums well defended by Dale in their 5 metre zone eventually cleared by Collins taking the play into Scarborough’s 22 where a penalty in front of the posts saw the Rochdale No.10 slot the ball for a surprising 8-7 lead. The home side were soon back in the Dale half and after one try had been disallowed for not grounding they had another given after a push over from the scrum on the visitors 5 meter line 14-8 with an hour gone.
Dale kept in the game with a great passing move which saw Cliff Howard go in at the corner and pull the score back to 14-13. The next 10 minutes settled the game as first Scarborough’s man of the match Govier went in for a nice try 21-13. Next is was Dale from a penalty deep in the home sides half was moved into the centre where Stevie Collins was on hand to touch down by the posts no mistake with the conversion so 21-20 with 15 minutes to go and another nail biter seemed on the cards, but it was cards that settled it as Dale picked up two yellow cards in the space of five minutes and with that advantage Scarborough ran in two more tries one of which was converted to leave the final score 33-20 a disappointing afternoon and a score which flattered the home side some what.
A free weekend for Dale to gather themselves before the visit of Wetherby on the 09/11. With a 2.15 kick off.
David Rhodes. R.R.U.F.C.