Hornets hand Lions first win
ROCHDALE Hornets suffered a heavy derby defeat on Sunday at the Summer Bash, as Swinton Lions ran out comfortable 38-12 winners.
It was the second time the club had competed in the showcase event at Blackpool FC’s Bloomfield Road, but unfortunately they couldn’t recreate their heroics of 2017.
The Lions had been winless, having picked up two draws so far this campaign, but they outplayed their local rivals to finally put a win on the board.
Hornets welcomed Joe Taira back to the forward pack after a spell on the treatment table, while Rob Massam made his 150th career appearance.
The Lions opened the scoring seven minutes in, as Taira came up with a huge shot on Gabriel Fell, only for Luke Waterworth to force his way over from dummy half on the next play.
From the restart, Hornets won a penalty for offside and capitalised brilliantly, as Dec Kay’s sensational flick pass found Earl Hurst, who sent Richard Lepori over in the corner. Tyler Whittaker’s touchline conversion levelled the scores.
It soon became a stopstart affair, with both sides exchanging knock-ons in the unforgiving heat, meaning we had to wait until five minutes from the break for the next score.
George Tyson was the man who found the break through, as he stepped past Hurst and bounced over a number of attempted tackles to charge over. Chris Hankinson was on target with the conversion to send the Lions into the sheds 12-6 up.
The second half started badly for Rochdale, as Josh Barlow offloaded to Will Hope, sending the loose forward over from close range two minutes into the second period.
It got even worse four minutes later, as the video referee confirmed that Hankinson had managed to ground the ball from dummy half, converting his own effort.
On 55 minutes the game was put to bed, as Liam Paisley broke from a Danny Yates kick with Lepori hauling him down short of the line, only for Joshua Woods to stroll over on the next play.
Paisley did get over just after the hour mark though, as Jack Hansen broke through the line to lay on a try for the back rower with an offload close to the line.
A lifting tackle from Hurst then handed Hankinson a chance to add more points to the score line, as he knocked over a penalty goal to make it a 32 point lead.
Jonah Cunningham forced his way over from dummy half seven minutes from time, moments after Dave Allen had been held up over the line, however it proved to be nothing more than a consolation for Hornets.
Kay, Lepori, Hurst, Cross,
Massam, Whittaker, Yates, Taira, Brickhill, Hatton, Tala, Mitchell, Allen. Interchanges: Cunningham, Moran, Hadden, Syme.
Lepori (9), Cunningham (73) Goals: Whittaker 2/2
Fell, Butt, Hankinson, Tyson, Bergal, Woods, J. Hansen, Bracek, Waterworth, Austin, Lloyd, Paisley, Hope. Interchanges: Barlow, H. Hansen, Thornley, Billsborough
Waterworth (7), Tyson (35), Hope (42), Hankinson (46), Woods (55), Paisley (62) Goals: Hankinson 7/7