Rochdale - away

[horbury ram]

Match Officials

• Referee: B. Milligan
• Reserve Referee: A. Marsh
• Touch Judge 1: S. Houghton
• Touch Judge 2: E. Burrow

[graham fisher]

53 minutes ago, horbury ram said:

Match Officials

• Referee: B. Milligan
• Reserve Referee: A. Marsh
• Touch Judge 1: S. Houghton
• Touch Judge 2: E. Burrow

Same referee as last week.

[Crown Flatter]

Assuming Caelum Jordan is not fit to play at Rochdale I would put Brad Graham in the centre with Greensmith and have the second row pairing as Davies and Garside, with Morris at 13. I don’t think we should mess with the team at the mo, tinker with the side in a home match.

We know that Rochdale can play rugby (witness their two tries with 11 men in the CC), so we must be on our guard. I still hope for a win though.

Rochdale 12-28 Dewsbury 

FTS: Greensmith

MoM: Turner

Att: 557

[Therein73]

I think we'll have enough to take the points with a full-strength team (or nearly full strength) ........ Would consider leaving Brad Graham in the second-row and bring Davey Dixon in at centre ......... Graham's scoring tries for fun at the minute though that probably wouldn't be affected too much by a switch to centre.

Shame if Jordan isn't fit as he and Louis Collinson have been two stand-outs for me so far this year.

Hornets 18   Rams 34

£17 is a bit steep for league 1 fodder IMO

[graham fisher]

This will be another tough test as we found out in the challenge cup,but we are stronger for this game than we were for the cup game. We need to keep this winning streak going and I think we will.

Rochdale 10

Rams 26

Fts Whiteley

Mom Turner

Att 545

[horbury ram]

Is Davey Dixon injured or just out of favour

[Blind side johnny]

Games against Rochdale are often unpredictable and usually produce a fair few points (with one notable exception) so this could be tricky to predict. We have produced some solid performances so far but they have also provided entertaining rugby and have a fair bit of flair. Just like in the cup game we need a professional, consistent start. I would hope that this time we don't switch off half way through.

Hornets 14 - 28 Rams

FTS Butterworth

MoM Butterworth

Att 645

[Therein73]

Competent performance after an early slip ....Very young Rochdale side who gave it a good shot all the way through but massive difference between the two sides ..... A few Rochdale fans would do better to appreciate the opposition is simply better rather than berating the officials.... Refs don't lose games by 48 points..... Funny how little time their no.8 spent on the park after his cheap shot at Ferguson

[Crown Flatter]

No I wasn’t worried when Rochdale scored first, just surprised. Lewis Carr knocked on and from the scrum a quick move right saw Cian Tyrer go through for a try in the corner.

From then on it was Dewsbury who held sway for the vast majority of the match, with only a few decent attacking moves from the Hornets. Dewsbury’s first try came around 15 minutes, after a steady build up saw Carr touchdown in the corner, followed by Sykes’ first conversion of eight, missing only one. 

I think a steady build up for our sets was our method of the day, bringing resultant tries to Greensmith, roughly half way through the first half, but when Ferguson came on we spectators felt we were to see a step up in play and soon after there he was, barging through defenders to score, not once, but twice immediately before half time. The Hornets players were unable to contend with his surges.

The second period, in my view, saw more of the steady forward movement in our sets and Sam Day creating havoc in the tired Hornets defence, assisting, along with Owen Restall, in further tries, the latter grabbing a hat trick in between helping Whiteley score, he nudging a defending centre aside to score (this conversion going wide) and Bailey O’Coonor scoring his first for the club.

Not the scoreline I expected, but very satisfying nonetheless. We look to have a good team set up this time, with the forwards paving the way, presumably from the work done by the coaching staff. Liam Finn selected O’Connor as right centre for his first full game, in for the injured Caelum Jordan and also introduced Luke Littlewood for his debut as he substituted Turner in the second half.

I have no idea of the attendance, but we were all corralled in just one section of the main stand, yet on leaving, had to wait what seemed like an eternity, stopped like vehicles waiting for a train to pass a level crossing, but n this case for players to return to the dressing room, some of whom decided to stop and chat to others before leaving the field of play.

 

Edited March 27, 2023 by Crown Flatter

[Blind side johnny]

Sound performance giving the fans increasing hope, maybe even confidence, for the rest of the season. There was a methodical professionalism about this performance that was very satisfying.

Rochdale are a relatively young side who will improve through the season and give some fancied teams a shock, maybe even their nearest and dearest neighbours. They just need a couple of experienced heads in the team.

Speaking of experienced heads I think this is one of our real advantages currently. Paul Sykes is performing a completely different role this season and, I believe, better for it. Not every move goes through him meaning that he more free to chime in at opportune moments. Dale Ferguson makes a massive impact when he is introduced and should have decent swansong season for us. Matt Garside quietly gets on with doing his job as well as offering leadership to younger players. And Perry Whiteley is clearly enjoying himself at this level as one of the hard working backs who clear our lines when we get possession in our own 25.

Sound and solid. No doubt our limitations will be exposed on Sunday but I am happy for us to concentrate on the league and getting out of this division.