Dale cope with conditions for follow up win
AYOUNG Dale side were looking to follow up on their hard fought win last week at Southport when they entertained Tarleton who were mid table and picking up some good wins this season.
With Andrew Foster and Tom Hindle as senior players and Travis Townsend at fly half the backs were at full strength.
A good break by Townsend saw Dale on the visitors 22 but in the maul a serious injury to centre Pat Gillan halted play for some minutes until he was helped off the field with what turned out to be a badly dislocated elbow.
Tarleton made the most of the disruption and were soon on the Dale 10m line pressing hard and a good passing move saw them score the opening points the conversion was wide so 5-0.
The Dale response was immediate with Townsend firing a high up and under that was well taken by the Tarleton full back his clearance was collected by Josh Schofield who made a darting run to the visitors 22 the ref saw some hands in the ruck and gave Dale a kickable penalty on 30m the normally reliable Townsend missed as the rain swept in.
Tarleton were having to defend against good drives by Tom Hindle and Foster a series of infringements and some back chat saw
Them defending on their 10 metre line and quick passing and good support by Eddie Shanks and Harry Hayes let in Callum Mulkeen to score by the posts conversion was good 7-5. From the restart Dale were on the offensive and another great jinking move by Townsend found Josh Schofield on the burst and he out-ran the Tarleton defence to score to the right of the posts. Up stepped winger Matt Buckley to take the kick from the touch line and score with a huge kick 14-5.
With half time looming Tarleton made a break and were stopped on the Dale 22 by Hayes and Redfern but the referee
Decided that the attacking side were to get a penalty and from 22m in front of the posts they scored to make the half time score 14-8 and game very much on.
The second half started with Dale on the attack and winning a penalty on half way, kicked for touch deep in the visitors half
Unfortunately they lost the lineout but the Tarleton clearance kick fell to Schofield who cruised through the defence only to be stopped on the five metre line , two more penalties to Dale in the red zone and Tarleton were hanging on, Danny Joesbury fed from the back of the scrum Ben Coulter made good yards and found Mulkeen powering through to score his 2nd try 19-8.
Tarleton were not finished and produced some good rugby to reach the Dale 22 where the referee gave a penalty and they elected to go for a scrum Kyle Parry who had a good game at Hooker was judged to have collapsed the scrum and given a yellow card. Ross Hartley came on and took over in the scrum but Tarleton were too strong and won the ball to feed out to the right wing to score in the corner. 19-13 the conversion being missed in the swirling rain.
With 10 minutes to go Dale won a scrum on half way and another Townsend high kick saw Foster in a foot race with the visitors full back who narrowly won and touched down behind his own line.
The drop out reached half way another Dale attack got to the Tarleton 10 metre line before it was held up the ball went back to Townsend who lofted a high kick under the visitors posts the full back fumbled the ball and Schofield was on hand to touch down for Dale’s 4th bonus winning try converted by Buckley leaving the final score 26-13 to Dale. A well deserved win in foul weather conditions both sides produced some thrilling rugby.
Today Rochdale are away in Salford to meet De La Salle for a 2-15 kick off.