Classy Colts in
ROSSENDALE COLTS ... 50 PRESTON G’HOPPERS ... 0 PAUL KILSHAW FTER a frustrating period with many cancellations due to the weather, a keen and enthusiastic Rossendale team welcomed Preston to Marl Pits and then proceeded to put them to the sword with a great performance across the whole team.
The Dale lads stuck to the game plan, winning and dominating the collisions and putting pressure on the opposition, and as a result went on to win the game without conceding a point, despite the tricky conditions caused by the soft pitch.
Rossendale were on the scoresheet within five minutes from a scrum setpiece near the Preston goal line.
The ball was won cleanly and moved quickly to Joe Bedlow at fly half, who jinked through a couple of tackles, only to be stopped a couple of metres short.
However, a deft pop pass enabled the supporting Ciaran Campbell to go over to score, with Joe Bedlow adding the extras.
The next ten minutes saw some good periods of play from Rossendale, and a series of penalties from the visitors to enable Dale to get their tails up.
It was from one of these penalties, that Jordan Fortune took quickly, charged downfield then fed Will Peel to slide over to score in the corner.
Not long afterwards, Rossendale missed the kick to touch from another penalty and this seemed to allow Preston to start gaining some momentum and also be on the receiving end of a few penalty decisions.
It took about fifteen minutes before the hosts had weathered this storm, and a crunching tackle on the Preston fly half from Joe Bedlow as the ball came out of a scrum enabled Ben Ludlam to steal
Aand feed Jordan Fortune on a driving run.
The ball went out through both centres before ending up in the hands of Will Peel to score his second, with Joe Bedlow slotting a tough conversion from the left touch line.
From the resulting restart, Rossendale worked steadily down the field and were soon awarded a scrum just inside the Preston half.
Safely secured, the ball was passed out to Joe Bedlow who sprinted through several tackles, drawing the final defender and feeding Oliver Molloy.
The next restart was dealt with in the same manner, with Rossendale working their way quickly back to the Preston twenty-two, then spending more than 10 phases knocking on the door of the visitors try line, but their defence was strong and held firm.
Eventually, Joe Bedlow spotted a gap and went through it, before feeding Ciaran Campbell who went over to score.
Preston came out for the second half with intent and spent the first three minutes camped on Rossendale’s line, testing the home side’s defence until a loose pass was picked up by Will Peel and he sprinted into the Preston half to relieve the pressure and shift the momentum back into Rossendale’s favour.
A quick ball from a tackle on Isaac Cornwall spun quickly to Cole Lanigan, then onto Tom Unsworth, to Callum Pelling and finally to Oliver Molloy to score.
The next Dale score came when Joe Bedlow stole a ball in the tackle area, sprinted a few metres before giving the ball to Connor Wilkie then on to Idrees Nazir, who had a forty metre charge to score under the posts, with Joe Bedlow adding the extras. Dale’s final try came after a series of phases in the Preston ●● Action from Rossendale Senior Colts’ clash against Preston Grasshoppers twenty-two until the defence had been sucked in, then the ball was spun out across the back line to allow Callum Pelling to run in the score, with Joe Bedlow again adding the extras.