Rochdale Hornets 24 - 26 Hunslet

Date published: 27 March 2024

Rochdale Hornets Head Coach Gary Thornton made one change to the side, which was victorious against Midland Hurricanes last time out, with Max Flanagan coming into the starting thirteen for the injured Martyn Ridyard as the Hornets entertained Hunslet at the Crown Oil Arena.

Before kick-off, both teams and their respective fans were on their feet for a minute of applause for former Rochdale Hornets chairman Peter Rush who sadly passed away. Peter was an influential figure for all involved at Rochdale Hornets and is sorely missed by everyone at the club.

The Hornets started the game with great intensity and with just two minutes on the clock, the influential Lewis Else danced through the tackles from half-back before duly diving over the whitewash. Matty Rudd failed to add the extras, but the Hornets established a quickfire advantage leading 4-0.

The Hornets' intensity continued with Else continuing to probe, being a constant thorn in the Hunslet side all afternoon, as he dropped a perfect grubber kick in behind which caused all sorts of problems in defence.

With ten minutes gone, Hornets centre Joe Hartley produced a simply incredible effort to score. The former Oldham man intercepted a loose Hunslet pass before evading the tackles of several scrambling defenders as he raced 60 meters to score under the sticks. Rudd added the simple two, 10-0 to the Hornets.

The game had an added bit of spice to it after seventeen minutes when Hunslet’s Matty Beharrell was lucky to escape without a sinbin for a late swinging arm on Lewis Else, an incident which seemed to fire the visitors up.

Five minutes later Jude Ferreira crossed for Hunslet as he was put clean through after a good break through the middle. Beharrell failed to convert but Hunslet were back in the game at 10-4.

In the twenty-ninth minute, Hunslet crossed again as Beharrell this time worked it wide to the right to find his half-back partner Harry Williams to dive over. The kick was again missed. Hornets still lead 10-8

Six minutes before halftime Hunslet completed the turnaround, an error from Hornets forward Brad Brennan as he tried to offload was punished by Spencer Darley as he went over for a third Hunslet try. Beharrell added the two to give the visitors a 10-14 lead at the break.

The Hornets began the second half with an added impetus relevant to the opening of the first half as Lewis Else continued to test the Hunslet back three with his kicking game and the introduction of Jonny Openshaw caused the visitors problems with his speed from dummy-half.

 

 

It was Hunslet however who got the first try of the second forty in the fifty-sixth minute. A cross-field kick on the last was claimed high by Jude Ferreira who did brilliantly to wrestle his way over the whitewash for his second of the game. Beharrell added the two to increase the Hunslet lead to ten points. 10-20.

Hornets looked threatening in attack but a combination of good defence and errors kept them at bay until the sixty-sixth minute when Max Flanagan darted through the line to cross. Rudd added the extras to leave the score at 16-20 with fifteen minutes to go.

Less than two minutes after Flanagan’s score, Joe Hartley grabbed his second of the afternoon to set up a grandstand finish. Flanagan picked up a spilt kick, found Hartley who crashed over in the corner. Rudd missed the tough conversion. 20-20.

All the momentum seemed to be with the Hornets, with the crowd carrying them forward at every opportunity Luke Nelmes and Ben Forster produced a try-saving effort to stop Goddard racing through for Hunslet after he had intercepted.

At the clock hit the seventy-fourth Hunslet crossed again. Harvey Hallas crashed over the line from what looked like a forward-pass. Beharrell added the extras to make the score 20-26 with six minutes to play.

Hornets went straight up the other end to strike back with two minutes of the game to play. Lewis Else grabbed his second as he sidestepped his man and darted over to score. Rudd missed the all-important kick leaving Hornets needing to grab two points to get anything from the game.

Hunslet kept the ball for the remainder of the game consigning Hornets to their first defeat of the season. Having come so close at the end of the game to getting back in it, Gary Thornton’s side left themselves too much to do during a period of concentration lapse.

The Hornets are next back in action on Easter Sunday as they travel the short distance to Boundary Park to take on local rivals Oldham Roughyeds for a 3pm kickoff.

Rochdale Hornets: McNally, Nixon, Hartley, Harrop, Brierley, Flanagan, Else, Brannan, Rudd, Nelmes, Forster, Meadows, Straugheir
Interchanges: Openshaw, Andrade, Brennan, Killan

Tries: Else x2, Hartley x2, Flanagan
Goals: Rudd (2/5)