Hornets lose their grip on Law Cup
ROCHDALE Hornets’ all-time leading points scorer Paul Crook came back to haunt his former club as his precise kicking led Oldham Roughyeds to a 28-24 victory in Wednesday’s Law Cup game.
Four of Rochdale’s winter signings were named in the team, with second row forwards Luke and Toby Adamson, young centre Earl Hurst and utility forward Billy Brickhill all making their first appearances in a Hornets shirt.
It was Oldham, freshly relegated to League One, who made the faster start, immediately putting the Rochdale defence under pressure and seeing the ball held up on the line within three minutes.
Just moments after that they scored through Matt Reid – the first of two superb tries for the Roughyeds centre – who held off Callum Mulkeen’s tackle to force the ball down in the corner. Paul Crook missed the conversion from the touchline, but that proved to be the last kick the homecoming half-back failed to send the ball between the sticks.
It took almost ten minutes for the Hornets to start releasing the pressure but when they did start coming forward they were guilty of a number of unforced handling errors as the poor playing surface and pre-season rustiness began to show.
Nevertheless it was Rochdale who took the lead about when new boy Luke Adamson burst through the Roughyeds’ line and fed a simple pass to Ben Moores on his shoulder to take the score to 6-4.
The game struggled to flow and the ball spent a lot of time lodged in midfield, and while Gary Middlehurst and Joe Taira carried the ball well for Rochdale the home fans were aggrieved that Old- ham seemed to get a lot of leeway from the referee for holding on at the tackle.
Rochdale solidified their position after 25 minutes when Middlehurst seized upon an unfortunate fumble in the Oldham defence for an easy score, but Oldham were back within two points shortly afterwards when triallist Barlow did superbly well to collect a chipped kick over the Rochdale line and ground it under pressure.
Rochdale held a 12-10 lead as the klaxon sounded but as soon as the second period began they found themselves on the back foot as Oldham exerted consistent pressure and protected the ball better than their Championship counterparts, and they levelled the scores ten minutes into the half through a Crook penalty.
They could have taken the lead when a flowing move from right to left was let down by a poor final pass but didn’t have to wait long for the advantage, another penalty – against Taira for a high tackle – putting Oldham two points to the good.
Just moments later came the best moment of the match as Reid manufactured an overlap on the left flank and surged through the gap, carrying the ball 40 metres before dummying the full back for a fine finish.
Luke Adamson pulled a try back when he charged down a clearance 15 metres from the whitewash and got to the loose ball first, but Oldham made it 26-18 three minutes later when they won the race to a chip over the Rochdale line and Crook sent over another superb kick.
Rochdale continued to struggle for rhythm but got the last try of the match when youngster Blake Turner charged through three weary tackles from 15 metres to bring the Hornets to within a try of an impressive comeback but the Roughyeds held on to seal an impressive win and lift the Law Cup - briefly in the case of their captain Danny Langtree, who promptly dropped the trophy as it was presented.