Hornets 12 Barrow Raiders 54 - Northern Rail Cup

Rochdale Hornets' first game as a new club ended in heavy defeat against Barrow in the Northern Rail Cup, but it was a scoreline that somewhat flattered the powerful visitors.

There was plenty to please Hornets coach Darren Shaw early in the game as his side took a 12-4 lead and only trailed 16-12 at the break.

For a side playing its first game for five months, Hornets showed a quite remarkable understanding in the first half and recovered from Ian Bell's early try for Barrow to match their opponents throughout the opening period.

Mick Fogerty impressed on the wing for the Spotland outfit and a couple of good tries will give the Hornets faithful hope for the season ahead.

Fogerty scored Hornets opener, latching onto Martin Ainscough's pass after superb work from Liam Grundy. Wayne Corcoran's conversion gave the home side the lead and it was extended when Chris Giles was fed by Ainscough to go over.

From then Barrow, clearly shocked at Hornets early cohesion, upped their game and ended up leading at the break.

Ultimately a heavy penalty count cost Hornets and inevitably the team tired in the second half to allow Barrow to run out convincing winners, scoring 38 unanswered points in the second period. Michael Bakhouse was the standout man for the visitors, scoring a hat-trick of tries, while Liam Finch bagged two.