Victory at last for Rochdale
ON a chilly afternoon at Gorton Street, a determined Rochdale took maximum points from opponents and fellow strugglers Eccles.
The visitors had to endure 10 minutes of constant pressure from the home side and defended well to hold them at least 10 metres. And despite all their efforts, Eccles could not break through. A penalty to Dale resulted in a lineout on half way and it soon became clear that Jimmy Flitcroft, Dom Serridge and Josh Schofield would pass the ball and test the home defence.
One such attack saw Flitcroft beat three tackles and set up Serridge to cross the whitewash near the corner. The conversion was kicked by Oli Coldman for a 7-0 lead.
Both sides had a series of attacks ending in penalties, thus releasing the pressure. Good kicking by Coldman kept the play in the Eccles half and the home pack showed signs of tiring with the end to end style of the contest.
The smaller Dale pack, captained by Tom Callaghan, more than held their own and Chris Hodgkinson was dominant in the line out.
Scrum half Dan Joesbury was a constant threat breaking from the scrums and setting up other players to raid the home side’s 22. In one such break Eccles were penalised on their 10 metre line and quick thinking Joesbury tapped and went on his own, only being stopped just short of the line.
After 20 minutes Dale were awarded another penalty on the Eccles 22. Coldman elected to take the points but the kick went just wide.
Dale were soon back on the attack and a nice passing move involving Joesbury and Serridge saw the ball go to winger Aaron Howorth who broke through to score in the corner for 12-0.
After some heroic defence, Dale then produced a great move with Flitcroft and Schofield combining to set up the ever willing No 8 Hodgkinson to burst through under the posts and score, giving an easy conversion for Coldman to make it 19-0.
What a difference a week makes – seven days earlier Dale were 19-0 down at home despite all their best efforts against the league leaders Kirkby Lonsdale.
Flitcroft was next on the score sheet when he broke through the Eccles defence yet again and placed a grubber kick past the fullback. There was only one winner in the foot race for the line and he touched down to bring the score to 24-0 at the break.
The second half started with the Eccles forwards battering at their lighter counterparts but resolute Dale defence stopped them only metres out.
Dale got back into the home side’s half with a good clearance kick from Coldman and again quick ball from the line out saw the visitors pressing hard
Eccles were penalised again for slowing up the play and up stepped Coldman to slot the penalty and make it 27-0.
Gee Desousa had been making his presence felt in the rucks and scrums but a slightly high tackle 10 metres out led to him getting a yellow card and 10 minutes cooling off time.
Eccles made the most of this and despite losing the line out after their penalty, Dale lost the ball going forward and the home side scored in the corner. The try was converted well to make it 27-7.
But the tiring home defence gave away two penalties in quick succession as they struggled to keep the Dale centres in check. Flitcroft switched play well from left to right and after some slick passing Josh Schofield crossed for a well deserved try which was converted for 34-7.
Eccles kept on pressing and despite going down to 14 men after a yellow card for a deliberate knock forward, they moved the ball wide and tried a chip over the Dale defence only to see the ever dangerous Flitcroft pick up the ball and passing to Serridge.
He moved into the Eccles 22 and the ball popped out of a tackle. Play seemed to stop but the referee said play on and Flitcroft obliged by sprinting in for a soft try, 39-7.
Eccles threw caution to the wind and mounted a series of attacks leading to a try on 75 minutes 39-12.
In the final minute, Dale were back in the home side’s 22 and this time a move down the left wing saw Coldman score himself to round off a great afternoon 44-12. This was the first win since the first of October and showed what Dale are capable of at their best. The whole side had played 80 minutes of class rugby on a sticky pitch and go to Leigh next week full of hope that they can still avoid the drop.