Dale travelled to the Memorial Ground to meet Wirral with both sides looking to avoid a relegation play off. Dale had a strong side out for this important fixture and after three good wins they were confident in the blustery conditions.
They started in the best possible fashion with a good passing move finding Cliff Howard on the wing to go in for an opening try after only three minutes. The conversion went just wide so 5-0. Dale needed to defend well as Wirral made good progress in the Dale 22. Tackling was fierce on both sides with Collins and Sunderland leading the way and Dom Serridge and Danny Joesbury working hard round the scrum.
Wirral had plenty of chances but lost the ball at vital moments. Dale continued to press when they had the ball and good breaks by captain Josh Schofield and Dec Conner saw them in the Wirral half, but not quite strong enough to go all the way. The weather was wild, ranging from blue skies to torrential down pours with hail mixed in… Both sides were glad when half time came with the score still 5-0 to Dale.
Acting coach Tom Callaghan made a couple of changes with Jonny Bradley and Ross Hartley on – two old heads to steady the ship. Wirral were soon on level terms when a gap opened up following a scrum on the Dale 5 metre line allowing their centre to nip in and score. The conversion hit the upright and bounced out making the scores level at 5-5. The Dale defence was solid with every player making tackle after tackle. Wirral kept running the ball due to the high cross winds but could not get through the Dale defenders. Eventually a good Wirral line out saw the ball move across to the winger who just got in by the corner flag, a good conversion made it 12-5 to the home side with 10 minutes left on the clock.
Dale kept on pressing and a line out on the Wirral 22 was taken by Sunderland and found its way to Ben Kershaw who skipped in to score by the posts. Up stepped Steve Collins to slot the conversion and make it 12-12. Dale had one more chance when Josh Schofield had a break from halfway but was stopped by desperate Wirral defence on the 22.
A fair result on the day Dale – some stout defending and never say die attitude. The one point was enough on the day, they finished 8th in the table but Wirral go to the play offs at Manchester.
David Rhodes R.R.U.F.C.
