3rds suffer from late changes

Saturday saw the Vale development side have their love of rugby tested more than the previous two games, having conditions of glorious sunshine replaced with boggy and inclement conditions.
Prior to the game, the rain began to worsen, the team lost some late key position players and had to reshuffle with intrepid Joe Birtwistle and Tom Needham volunteering to play out of position to fill the gaps. All the while, (naughty) Friday hangovers lingered and those travelling with Robbo got some horrific fragranced insights into his Friday night Indian.

Notwithstanding the less than ideal conditions, a core and highly committed development squad of 17 travelled down the M65 to take on Rossendale 3rds.

The game started with heavy rain and difficult conditions. Both teams made some early knock-ons which created lots of scrummaging opportunities for the forwards. Vale’s pack dominated these contests and Joe Birtwistle, having rebranded himself ‘Faf de Birt’ opened his scrumhalf experience with some darting runs off the scrum testing the Rossendale backrow and backs defence which stood firm.
The forwards set a strong platform with strong early running off 9 from Rob O’Brien, Dave Robinson and team rock star Bowzer. The platform was created for the backs to run a little off Tom Needham also playing out of position, taking on the role of fly half. Tom created a good platform for the centres Gav Glennon and Rich Dewar to run strong lines and test the Rossendale backs making early breaks. Gav Glennon was a welcome addition back in the centres and performed stout running early on and a colossal opening hit on Rossendale’s inside centre. However, the crash ball specialist now enjoys a kick for touch when he thinks there is too much space in front of him.
Following a period of back and forth play with the teams evenly matched and the tackle count needing to be high, Rossendale were the first to open their account following several phases of forward running. There was some questionable blocking on the Vales try line when the Rossendale number 8 went over for the first try but the referee gave it.

Tom Needham restarted well with a good forwards chase, which tested Rossendale and created knock-ons in the tough conditions. The Vale pack continued to dominate the resulting scrums and allowed more running through the backs thanks to Joe and Tom performing a good axis for the centers. Vale built on the set piece strengths further, with the precise lineout throwing of John Whitty, the power of Stu Middlehurst, Bowzer and Paulie Peters along with the acrobatics of Karl Hanson meaning the lineout was working with great effect.
Despite these efforts, Rossendale sneaked through with two further tries in the first half resulting from lagging fitness levels testing the vale at the breakdowns.

The Vale regrouped at half time having to make a number of changes to cover Gav Glennon’s injury, bringing Paul Scott into scrumhalf, Joe Birtwistle into a more familiar position in the back line and Joe Bebbington into the back row. The forwards opened the second half with some strong running from Rob O’Brien and Stu Middlehurst who performs solid contributions and continues to improve every game. Dave Robinson and Paulie Peters continued the pressure with Adam Bouskill making a strong piercing run with Paul Scott making the final contributions to push Vale over the line for Vale’s try, which he also converted.

The Vale dominated the second half with strong running from forwards and backs and high tackle counts nullifying the Rossendale attack. Vale defence was robust resulting in several Rossendale injuries making for a stop-start game which kept team physio Paulie Peters on his toes.

The back three of Matt Mitchell, Mark Bower and Harry Evans were tested regularly in the half with some good high ball catches, good cleaning up and try saving tackling, particularly from Harry at full back. Harry did however have a DoD moment during a pressure building play for the Vale in the Rossendale 22. Harry heroically took the ball from the back of a ruck to stretch out his full body length to place the ball on……. the 5-metre line!

Vale continued to test Rossendale with strong running from forwards and backs and some magic stepping through the middle of rucks from Scotty, bamboozling the Rossendale forwards.

Unfortunately fitness levels began to be fully tested later in the half and the game began to be more open around the breakdowns leaving gaps for Rossendale to break through which they did for two soft tries in the second half.

The game ended 31-7, which flatters Rossendale in what was a very evenly matched game in tough conditions. The Vale team acknowledged that a 10% increase in player fitness might have made the difference which is something for us to collectively work on for the next game.

No MoM – Great team effort in difficult conditions but special mention to Joe and Tom for accommodating the late reshuffle and playing out of position. Thanks guys!
Thanks to Dave ‘GOD’ Hughes for cheerleading, coaching and waterboy duties (and being ready with his boots).

DoD – Harry Evans (obvs.)!

Many thanks to Richard Dewar for being persuaded by Alex Batson to provide an excellent report.