Rugby Union: Rochdale 36 - 15 Manchester

On a bright and breezy afternoon, Rochdale beat Manchester despite several players being on holiday.

Rochdale started well with a good attack down the right leading to a penalty on the 22.

The line out was taken, and the pack drove for the line with the ball coming to second row Tom Helliwell who crashed over for the first try - which was converted.

Rochdale had some defending to do as the visitors responded. Their pack being held on the Rochdale 22, the ball came to Ollie Coldman who cleared to halfway. Chris Hodgkinson won the line out and the ball came through to Matt Buckley at 14 who beat the full back to score. The conversion was wide.

Manchester secured a penalty 20 metres out which their fly half kicked to open his side's scoring.

The re-start went straight into touch and from the resulting scrum the visitors worked the ball wide to the left wing with a long pass which the winger took well to score in the corner. The conversion was missed.

Rochdale responded with a good re-start which saw them camped in the Manchester half, but the defence held, and an attempt by James Duffy to kick through was charged down.

The Manchester fly half tried another Crossfield kick for his winger but this time he failed to collect.

Rochdale had the line out on their own 22 and attacked to half way with the pack doing well, Jake Smith and Harry Hill giving their opposite numbers a hard time.

The young Rochdale backs were always a threat and when captain Dom Serridge passed wide to Adam Derbyshire he outpaced the visitors defence to score. The conversion was wide.

Manchester came out for the second half with determination and pressured Rochdale from the start. Camped on the home side’s five metre line, when the high cross kick was tried again the ball ended in touch and Rochdale took the scrum and cleared to half way.

Manchester broke through to score under the posts to make it 17-15.

The next score would be crucial and with Rochdale clearing from their own 22, the Manchester wing half pulled back Matt Buckley as he attempted to catch a Coldman through kick, and was yellow carded for his trouble. This lead to a purple patch for the home side with good passing moves leading to another try by the forwards, this time Harry Hill taking a short pass from Tom Helliwell to power through and score. The conversion was well taken.

The Manchester defenders were rocking under a barrage of attacks from Rochdale. Duffy, Serridge and Coldman all involved in launching the backs in a series of well delivered passes leading to a fifth try in the corner. The kick was successful.

Rochdale received a penalty for Manchester deliberately knocking on; the kick was deep and from the line out a clean take by Hodgkinson saw a short pass break the visitors line on the right corner,. An excellent conversionadded to Rochdale's lead.

When Serridge was the victim of a high tackle the referee had no choice but to red card the offender.

The next period saw Rochdale defend well but when Manchester were penalised for holding on the kick went deep into their half. The line out ball was taken in by the pack who forced their way over to leave the final score 36-15.