Rochdale in Cockermouth comeback
ROCHDALE made the long trip to newly promoted Cockermouth with several enforced changes from the side that beat Orrell so convincingly the week previous.
Chris Hodgkinson came into the second row and captain Dom Serridge moved to scrum half. Blair Henry replaced Pat Gillian on the wing with Jack Green at fly half.
On a bright afternoon in a wonderful setting surrounded by the Cumbrian hills all was set for a great game of rugby.
Dale applied pressure from the start and caused the Cumbrians to give away penalties leading to a line out on their 22 Chris Hodgkinson took a clean ball and a good attack by Tom Hindle ended with the ball in touch.
Cockermouth kicked well and soon had Dale back in their own half and with 15 minutes gone they elected to take a scrum in front of the Dale posts the ball was moved wide and the hosts scored the first points with a converted try 7-0.
Pack leader Tom Callaghan came off with a bad shoulder injury which needed a trip to hospital so on came Jonny Bradley at prop.
Despite several good breaks the Dale backs could not find a way through the tuff home defence.
After a line out on the Dale 22 the ball was fed out to winger Blair Henry who made good ground and fed Dom Macklin who scored in the corner a good conversion left the scores level at 7-7.
With five minutes to half time both sides put on attacking pressure but it was Cockermouth with a fine passing move who scored in the right corner for a converted try, 14-7.
If this was not bad enough Dale gave away a penalty minutes later right in front of the posts which the hosts converted to make the half time score 17-7.
Dale needed to get back in the game and they got a chance after five minutes when a Dom Serridge clearance kick reached the opposition’s 22.
From the line out Cockermouth gave away a penalty. The kick went just wide.
Coach Danny Collins brought on Harry Hayes and Rob Wadsworth to beef up the pack and Dale were soon on the attack. After a good break by Josh Schofield the ball came wide to winger Blair Henry who squeezed in at the left corner. The conversion fell short so with 10 minutes left it was 17-12. With the home side tiring Dale had several good breaks with Matty Buckley and Dom Macklin going close.
With minutes left it was captain Serridge who linked up with Jack Green in a good passing move to score to the left of the posts. The final kick was the conversion and Serridge came up to score the winning points.
On what had been a tough afternoon the side showed good spirit to come back against a strong Cockermouth side.