Morley 12 Rochdale 19
On a very windy afternoon in Yorkshire Dale had a strong side out with only Emerson Lopes and Cliff Howard missing and with Will Simmons making his debut on the wing. The wind was rattling the stand roof and kicking would be a lottery, Dale had the slight advantage in the first half with Steve Collins using all his experience to place his kicks high up the pitch. When Dale were awarded a penalty the line out on the Morley 22 led to a maul in which the home sides No4 and captain was yellow carded ,this should have been a good time for Dale to press home their advantage but despite a good break from Ethan Poole the final pass was forward allowing Morley to place the ball deep into the Dale half a nasty bounce and the home sides full back sneaked in to score under the posts an easy conversion so 7-0 after 26 minutes. The scrums were evenly matched but Dale lost hooker Jonny Bradley with Harry Hayes coming on in the pack. Steve Collins stole the ball in a tackle and let in Declan Conner who made good ground but lost the ball in the tackle. After a nice chip through by Collins the ball came back to Captain Josh Schofield who got the ball wide and it looked as though Simmonds had gone in but the referee signalled held up so at half time it remained 7-0 to Morley.
The second half was windier than the first and Morley made the most of it blowing mostly from behind them with high deep kicks from Kelly their fly half testing Dales defence. A penalty for the visitors led to Ben Sunderland taking the ball in a short line out and several passes later the ball came to the mercurial centre Tom Hesketh who ran in a fine solo try, the conversion looked impossible with the swirling wind blowing in Steve Collins face the ball went high and seemed to change direction as it neared the posts glanced the upright and went over to make the score 7-7 game on.
Dale were inspired by this and went all out for a win with a try disallowed in the corner and a free kick to Morley once again using the long kick to pressure the Dale defence this time a scrum on half way was won by the home side and a high chip over the whole Dale back line saw their winger sprint through and almost touch down good defending by Josh Schofield who got the final touch. Paddy O’Loughlin who had played well in the 2nd row was taken off and Jacob Jackson replaced him, Collins continued to test Morley with deft kicks and fast breaks backed up by Matty Johnston and Danny Joesbury lots of pressure and with Ethan Poole a constant threat and Schofield looking for work Dale were on the Morley 22 a line out was stolen by Ben Sunderland having another tremendous game at wing forward ,Collins linked up and when Dale were awarded a penalty 10metres out he chose to tap and go squeezing in by the posts, this time the wind won and his conversion went wide 7-12.
The game swung as much as the goal posts with Morley eager to go level when Dale were penalized at a 5metre scrum Morley elected to scrum again and pushed over for a second try the conversion was missed so 12-12 with 10 minutes left. Another penalty to Morley went dead and with a scrum given on the centre spot Dale were back in business moments later the home sides fly half was yellow carded for a late tackle, and with their kicker off Collins started to dominate the play setting up Poole and then Ben Sunderland who went in under full back to score by the posts even the wind died down for a minute to allow Collins to tap over and make it 12-19 with no time left for the re-start. A fine win for Dale after last week’s disappointment the stout defence and classy attacking play saw them still 2nd in the league but looking to chase Bradford Salem to the end of the season. Thanks to our generous hosts at Morley for the cheese board to go home with !
The next game is at home versus Old Crossleyans on 04/01/2025 2.15 kick off.