Swarm beat Oldham in series decider

In the Rochdale Swarm`s last game before their forthcoming Ireland trip, the Swarm took the honours two games to one in the best of three series against local rivals Oldham.

The hastily arranged decider was just like the preceding two fixtures with little between the sides. The final aggregate scores over the series only had a single point difference between the two teams.

Sunday’s match saw the Swarm without several key personnel, but thankfully the Rochdale side’s large squad meant they were able to field a more than competitive side.

Oldham started the brighter of the two teams, taking an early lead, but the Swarm soon pinned them back when Phil Cockayne took the ball at pace from 35 yards out, rounded the fullback and went in under the posts.

The Hornets’ supporters’ side exerted more pressure which saw Matt Butlers’ first try of the season when the Rochdale team swept the ball across the full width of the pitch for Butler to go in at the corner.

Directly from the kick off, Oldham kicked straight to Rochdale’s live wire stand in scrum half Mark Thomas who ghosted past half the Oldham side before feeding the ball out to support before ending in the hands of speedster Pete Marland who ran half the length of the field to score.

As the game entered its second quarter, the Oldham side found their feet and threw everything at the Rochdale defence, eventually breaking through for a 70 metre break, only for Swarm centre Pete Marland to cover to save a certain try. Marland was sin-binned though for holding on and with the Swarm down a man, Oldham took full advantage scoring a brace of tries in quick succession to bring the scores to 16-16.

In the second half, both teams increased the tempo but it was the Swarm who again took the initiative with Marland and Thomas adding tries but the absence of the Swarms’ regular kicker meant the Oldham side never lost touch of the game. Never more so when they scored a try and conversion to make the scores 24-22 going into the last quarter.

Oldham launched into the squad, half spinning the ball wide and testing the Swarm defence to breaking point, but captain for the day, Alan Osbaldestone, led by example tackling everything the Oldham side could muster, and when the Rochdale side managed to regain possession, Ste Mason and Adam Bates alongside young Jack Ashworth worked the ball back up field.

The Swarm’s hard work was rewarded with Thomas again able to slip a very tight Oldham defence to make the game 28-22 with six minutes remaining.

Oldham again pushed forward probing the Swarm defensive line trying to find the gap, but the Rochdale team stood firm holding out until the referee finally blew for full time giving the Swarm the 2-1 series win which looked at times to be slipping away.