3rd XV - Match Report - Rossendale
With poor weather conditions and being let down by having no referee nobody was expecting free flowing rugby, however this was not the case as both teams started the game well.
With both teams threatening but ultimately failing at the final pass the first try didn't come till half way Into the 1st half scored by Rossendale after some strong runs.
Aldwinians couldn't of asked for a better response after stealing the ball from the restart and some good support with a ruck set up inside the Rossendale 22, the ball came to Rob Woodhead at 10 who played off a beautiful pass on to the running Guy Harvey , who was like a hot knife through butter to go in for the try, unfortunately he was unable to convert his own try and the kicking duty was then taken away from him.
Rossendale responded strongly from this and started to put some nice phases together.
Unfortunately Charlie Hoy who was having a good game in the centres had to come off with an injury leaving Aldwinians with 14 men, Rossendale kindly lent a player to keep it 15 vs 15.
The next score came from a couple of Aldwinians mistakes that Rossendale punished and converted to make it 14-5. But much like all other scores there was a response, some strong running from Jimmy Hall and Sam Thackeray made the space for the smallest man on the pitch Brad Clayton to sidestep his way over the try line and under the posts, with Connor Ward adding the conversion.
Aldwinians were down to 14 before half time with Sam Thackeray feeling a twinge from an old injury. With that, the half ended 14-12.
A quick referee change and Aldwinians now had captain Ben Singleton to add some experience to the youthful play, Aldwinians started strongly and it wasn't long until Josh Birch was over , to take the lead, but there was no successful conversion to follow.
Keeping consistent with the first half, this score spurred Rossendale into life who started to make some good yards with their runs brushing off some tackles along the way. The lead was swapped back to Rossendale with their 3rd try of the day with another conversion to follow.
Rossendale kept this pressure on a tiring Aldwinians and they were awarded a penalty in front of the sticks, hoping to extend the lead they had a shot but it drifted wide. This seemed to give Aldwinians a second wind and a returning Sam Thackeray took another exquisite pass of Rob Woodhead to break the line on the halfway and with some nice hands from Jimmy Hall and Joe Cooper the ball was shipped to the wing where a waiting Tom Chetwyn gathered and made some impressive yards. From the next breakdown another strong run from Jimmy Hall had him over for his well deserved try, unfortunately the conversion was again missed but it was enough to still give Aldwinians a slender lead.
With the clock winding down Rossendale again started to build the pressure and were making their way deep inside Aldwinians half, all this pressure then paid off as they crashed over from close range to score what surely would be the winning score as there was only 1 minute on the clock after the failed conversion.
As much like the rest of the game the response was impeccable with an Aldwinians kick chase causing a spill from Rossendale. With some more impressive running and great support Aldwinians won a penalty just outside the Rossendale 22, with the referee calling last play and Aldwinians needing a try to win they decided to run it, unfortunately a mix-up of which game was being played one of Aldwinians player that usually plays rugby league took this as last tackle and put a chip into the corner but even a good chase the ball went into touch and brought the game to a close and gave Rossendale the win.
Some good performances all over the pitch but Man of the Match goes to Jimmy Hall