Rossendale settle in higher league with another win

Date published: 13 December 2009

Darlington Mowden Park 11 – 18 Rossendale

Another gritty performance, against a spirited Darlington outfit saw travelling Dale further consolidate their status in National Div. 3 (North). Any neutral spectators must surely have had their moneys’ worth from a nip and tuck game that saw both sides show their strengths and frailties in equal measure.

Mowden Park started the brighter of the teams and created many opportunities with their movement of the ball and mobility, but time and again their offloads failed to reach supporting runners and allowed Dale to regroup. A couple of instances of ill discipline did give the home side 2 penalties and allowed them to nudge ahead 6 – 0, more worrying though was that Collins was yellow carded for repeated interference at the ruck; this left Rossendale with only 14 men while the player coach cooled his heels in the sinbin. Darlington seized their opportunity and raised the tempo of their game in an attempt to exploit their numerical advantage, but the visitors dug deep into the "gritbank" and repelled boarders for the duration of their flankers "sabatical".

With their numbers restored, Rossendale became a different proposition – retaining possession and pressuring Park through structured play. This soon paid dividends as DeJager struck a 30m penalty to reduce the arrears. 6 – 3

For their part Darlington still endeavoured to move the ball wide and keep the pace of their attack high, but resolute tackling and counterattacking by the visitors saw all their efforts thwarted as Rossendale began to control the closing encounters of the first period and apply pressure to the Mowden Park line. After several phases and sniping runs from captain Bramhall, veteran Lock Fourie found himself in the scrum half role with the try line beckoning literally inches away. He provided Keys with a deft pass from the base of the ruck, and the hooker took the opportunity well – diving under the waiting defenders to score with just a minute of the 1st half left. Dejager converting for the extra 2.

6 – 10

Darlington restarted with just seconds left on the clock, Rossendale collected the kick – recycled – moved the ball – and then conspired to shoot themselves in the foot; killing their own ball at the ruck and being penalised by the referee. The home team took the penalty quickly and 2 quick phases later outnumbered the Dale defence on the left to score in the corner, the conversion was missed but Darlington took a slender lead into halftime. 11 – 10

Half time done with, Rossendale picked up the gauntlet again and set about Park again. But the home team kept their tempo high. The result, a highly competitive game, Rossendale retaining possession and working through their phases but succumbing to basic errors – Darlington using width and pace at every opportunity but too often simply giving the ball away with speculative passes. But Rossnedale were spending longer and longer in the Darlington half of the pitch and the Home teams breakouts were becoming less and less threatening. DeJager kicked his second penalty of the afternoon during this period to put Dales nose in front.

11 – 13

As the game moved into its’ final quarter Darlingtons backplay forced Dale onto the backfoot, but after enduring the pressure Danny Harrison intercepted another loose Darlington pass, danced round 2 opponents before smashing his way out of his 22 directly through the Darlington scrum half to relieve the pressure. With the win in their sights Rossendale played the territory game, pinning Mowden Park into their 22 with clever kicking from both Bramhall and DeJager.

With the final whistle looming, Dale shut the door on Darlington when Collins took a reverse pass from Bramhall to wrongfoot the defence and seal the win by powering through the last 2 defenders to score a well deserved try for the visitors.