Colts Down Dale!

Match Report by Matthew Miles

Another sunny Sunday morning saw Manchester arrive at Moorgate Avenue with a near full squad of players.

Manch were camped in the Rochdale half for the first 10 minutes but failed to find the cutting edge which was so apparent against Collegiate the week before. Dale weathered the early pressure and pushed up field. A line out went horribly wrong for the visitors in their own 22. With a penalty awarded to the home team, Dale took a quick tap penalty and, much like a try that was conceded against Collegiate the previous Sunday, the defence were slow to react and Dale ran in for the first try of the afternoon with 15 minutes played. Conversion missed.

Manchester were quick to react though and 3 minutes later Will Harrison took advantage of a dog leg in the home team’s defence to even things up. 5-5 (conversion missed)!

With Dale missing a tricking penalty kick, the first half ended without anymore points being registered. 5-5 at half time.

The second half proved to be a different story. The introduction of Luke and some stirring words from the coaching team saw a revitalised visiting side storm into the lead when Luke himself took advantage of a missed tackle to score the Academy’s second try of the day. Conversion by Will to make it 5-12 with 37 minutes gone.

Manch were now in full stride. After 40 minutes, more good work from Luke and Liam released Ben who finished with aplomb. Conversion missed, 5-17.

Luke, as ever, proved a regular and reliable outlet for his opportunistic team mates. Another carry on the 50 minute mark saw the ‘replacement’ number 10 tee up Ben to make it 5-24 courtesy of Will’s conversion.

With 14 minutes remaining, Luke helped himself to another try after 56 minutes to press home the visitors advantage. Will wrapped up the conversion to move the score onto 5-31.

Credit to Dale though. Most teams could be forgiven for folding when conceding so freely but a spirited attack with 5 minutes remaining saw their big second row crash over to make it 10-31. Conversion missed.

The last score of the game was fittingly scored by Manchester’s brilliant fly half. Matty won possession deep in the Dale half. Liam fed the ball to the ever imperious Luke who strode over to complete a well deserved 10-36 victory.

Manchester clearly need to work on coming out of the blocks with more intensity and accuracy in their early play. Despite Rochdale’s industrial heritage being link to the wool trade, there was certainly nothing woolly about their attitude and they certainly deserve credit for the never-say-die performance they displayed.