Oldham Roughyeds 38 - 18 Rochdale Hornets

An ill-disciplined display from Rochdale Hornets led to a heavy derby defeat as they went down to Oldham at Whitebank Stadium.

They gave away 16 penalties which invited unwanted pressure on their own line and were punished time and time again by their opponents.

It looked like it was going to be a good afternoon early on for Hornets as they took an 8-0 lead and played some good rugby, however a poor second half showing saw them lose ground in the race at the top of the Kingstone Press League One table.

Five minutes into the contest Paul Crook dummied through the defensive line before racing towards the try line and handing possession on to Danny Yates, who was hacked down inches from the line.

They forced a repeat set though and Crook dived over from dummy half to score his 50th Hornets try, before converting his own effort for a 6-0 lead.

That lead grew to 10-0 after 10 minutes when back-to-back penalties gave Crook the perfect opportunity to add a penalty goal.

Seven minutes later Oldham were on the scoreboard as Lewis Palfrey’s cut-out ball found George Tyson in space, who drew his man to release Adam Clay with the winger finishing in the corner.

The scores were level within four minutes as Jake Connor forced his way over on the short side from close range moments after Danny Langtree was held up over the line.

Tyson missed a golden opportunity to extend their lead when he knocked on over the line but he was involved in the next score, as he offloaded to Clay before he found Roper with Palfrey eventually going over under the sticks. He then improved his own try to make it 14-8.

It was all square at the break though as Hornets hit back with four minutes of the half remaining, a sweeping move ended in Danny Bridge hitting Lee Paterson with a short ball to send him over. Yates’ conversion brought the scores level.

Half time: Oldham 14 - 14 Rochdale Hornets

Oldham started the second half in the worst possible fashion as their kick-off went out on the full and were behind after just four minutes. A Ryan Smith kick was knocked forward giving the Hornets another six tackles, and from the resulting set Bridge barged his way over out wide.

It only lasted seven minutes and was the last time Hornets were in the game as they conceded four tries without reply.

First Jacob Fairbank crashed over for a debut try after collecting a long cut-out ball and then from the kick-off Rochdale attempted a short kick off which didn’t pay off, instead it gifted good field position to the Roughyeds. They used that field position to score again as Sam Gee was put through a gaping hole to stroll over and score. Both scores were converted by Palfrey.

As the penalties against Hornets stacked up Palfrey added an extra two with the boot.

With just six minutes of the game remaining Rochdale were punished again, this time after Lewis Charnock failed to find touch from a penalty which resulted in Gareth Owen dancing his way over from dummy half to secure the win. Palfrey added a simple conversion.

There was still time for another, two minutes from time, as yet another Hornets penalty resulted in Josh Crowley ducking under a tackle to wrap up the game. Palfrey couldn’t convert.

Oldham Roughyeds: Jake Connor, Adam Clay, George Tyson, Oliver Roberts, Jack Holmes, Lewis Palfrey, Steve Roper, Adam Neal, Gareth Owen, Phil Joy, Danny Langtree, Josh Crowley, Jacob Fairbank.
Subs: Michael Ward, Liam Thompson, Adam Files, Sam Gee.

Rochdale Hornets: Wayne English, Gareth Langley, Lee Paterson, Jack Ashworth, Dale Bloomfield, Ryan Smith, Danny Yates, Warren Thompson, Paul Crook, Matty Hadden, Danny Bridge, Jordan Case, Lewis Charnock.
Subs: Matthew Haggerty, Danny Jones, Alex McClurg, James Tilley.