Rochdale 5 – 40 Sedgley Park
Well what can we say about this fixture, it’s always a tough place to travel to and Rochdale always seem to be a well drilled hard side.
The game started at a furious pace and both sides exchanged phases of play, Sedges ill-discipline saw us pegged back on our line time after time and eventually Rochdale went over in the corner for a well-earned try 5-0.
This seemed to wake our boys up but we were still letting ourselves down back chatting to the man in the middle (in my opinion he got some things very wrong) but you have to respect him and we didn’t in phases and it cost us valuable yards.
Towards the end of the 1st quarter we managed to crash over for a well worked try scored by the Italian stallion VAL. The whistle went for end of the 1st quarter score 5-5.
After some words of encouragement and advice from the Sedge coaching team, we sprung into life; two quick fire tries were scored one by Vinnie (the human wrecking ball) he brushed off three tackles to score a well-earned try.
This was followed by some excellent passages of rugby passing the ball down the line and winning some well needed breakdown ball, up stepped (captain for the game) Freddie the tank he blew his defender out of the way to crash over for a lovely try.
Rochdale kicked off and we knocked on, however good work in the scrum by Theo Hughes winning the ball against the head, the ball was passed at pace down the line and Vincent kicked a cross field ball over the heads of the Rochdale defence and Bobcat was 1st to react picking up at his laces and dived over for a well worked score. The whistle went for the end of the 2nd quarter. Score 5-20.
Some more good advice from the sedge coaching team and our boys now had the heads up playing lovely rugby and Rochdale had no answers to our immense defence. Some huge hits were going in and I have to mention every single boy who played because they all stepped up and were counted for.
Some of the hits that went in were bone crunching but Rochdale threw everything at Sedge but could not breach our defensive line.
Better running from the sedge boys and some great passing saw Val score his 2nd of the day from close range, and then almost immediately after him Bobcat broke the line and made a lovely break to score in the corner. End of 3rd quarter score 5-30.
Final quarter and Rochdale’s heads had now gone and they resorted to some cheap tactics but we thought back with RUGBY and dominated the pace of the game, a series of driving mauls saw Vinnie send a pass out to Fin who manged to dive over for a try.
Then for me the try of the day, the ball was kicked very deep by Rochdale but it landed straight in the hands of Sam Neil, he bobbed and weaved his way through the 1st phase of defence and then took on the Rochdale back line, he sprinted for the corner only for a last ditch tackle by 2 Rochdale defenders but Sam managed to release the ball to the oncoming Theo warren who plucked the ball out of the sky to enable him a clear run in for a well worked try.
The game was becoming a little fractured after this and the ref ended the game. Final score
Rochdale 5- 40 Sedge.
Squad for the day and comments
Freddie (captain today) led by example when others talked back he did his best to calm the boys and capped off a great performance with a nice try.
Fin : worked hard in defence and scored a very good try looked sharp all match.
Sam N: aggressive in defence and a joy to watch with ball in hand.
Theo H: stepped up to play hooker and was excellent, some good work in the breakdowns
Robbie: solid in defence and is really showing his skill sets getting better at union week in week out has excellent balance and great hands.
Oliver C: Never troubled in defence ran back everything that was kicked at him and was in constant support of his team mates, great performance.
Sam M: did very well at the breakdown and used his power and strength when required.
Jenson: ran hard all game and was a constant thorn in Rochdale’s side he also used the boot to excellent effect.
Anton: got really stuck in and considering he has missed a lot of rugby this season through injury is showing he is getting back into form worked very hard when on the pitch.
Vinnie: This young man makes hard yards and hits the rucks and tackles very well another outstanding display.
Val: Strong and safe has the ability to move for a big lad and when he hits things they stay hit, played his best game today.
Bernie: 1st game back for a while and showed us all what an effective member of the squad he is, tackled well all day and worked hard at the breakdown.
Theo W: pace pace pace, if this boy gets you on the outside you’re done showed this again today and worked hard in defence.
Olli B: big hits and loads of aggression in the breakdown, he is a strong hard runner well played.
Bobcat: he is like an electric eel you cannot hold onto him, he played with excellent vision today and deserved his tries.
James: didn’t play due to illness but stayed to support his team mates get well soon.
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