Manchester 17 – 24 Rochdale

Session 1 Manchester 5 – 7 Rochdale
Play started in bright Autumn sunshine and was broken into three sessions of 20 minutes each. Rochdale kicked off and the ball was immediately returned 80 yards with a trademark run from Tom W to put Manchester ahead. That proved to be the home sides only highlight of the first period as the conversion was missed, a number of passes and tackles were missed and far too many penalties were conceded. Play was mainly in the Manchester 22 and while a number of try saving tackles were made it was only a matter of time before the big Rochdale pack forced the ball over the line and converted the try.

Session 2 Manchester 0 – 12 Rochdale

Once again Rochdale were quick to stamp their presence on proceedings with considerable physical pressure. Manchester continued to suffer from a series of penalties given for not releasing or coming in from the side of the ruck, while there were too many knock ons and wayward passes being made to get our strong backs into the game. The first spoils of the session went to Rochdale with a well worked try in the corner which was converted. The second score again went to Rochdale with a strong run through our defence from a tap penalty, the conversion never left the ground. The remainder of the period was well contested with Manchester now woken up and starting to make some big hits and probing runs but they were faced with some stout defensive work.

Session 3 Manchester 12 – 5 Rochdale

Manchester had finally found their rhythm and begun to exert some pressure. Forwards drove over, backs supported and a surging move up the middle of the park ended in a heap of bodies over the Rochdale try line. When the mass rolled away it was Greg’s hands on the grounded ball and following Tom J’s conversion Manchester were in with a chance of an improbable comeback. However from the kick off some mis-handling led to the ball being recovered by one of Rochdale’s big forwards who broke through to score left of the posts. To their credit Manchester came roaring back and suffered from a most bizarre decision as Rochdale knocked the ball on straight from the kick off allowing Ciaran to pick up and crash over in the corner. The Ref awarded the try then decided to pull the game back for the initial knock on by Rochdale, scrum was awarded to Manchester but definitely no advantage was played.

Undeterred and showing good discipline in the face of such adverse decisions, Manchester were finally playing as we know they can and following another period of dominance by the Forwards, Ciaran picked up from the back of a scrum on the Rochdale 22 and evaded some desperate tackling to touch down in the corner. Manchester pushed on for the equalising try but time ran out with the final score Manchester 17 – 24 Rochdale

Epilogue

Our open and focussed game play demonstrated in recent matches was strangely absent today, as there developed as the game went on a general lack of teamwork and hesitancy to move the ball out – such an area of strength in Manchester’s play. Lessons need to be learned and a poor performance on the day, but the final session showed what we are capable of and on another day we would have won this game. The entire squad contributed and Lawrence deservedly picked up the player of the week award for his strong overall forward performance. Credit must go to a well drilled Rochdale side who were allowed to play to their strengths.