North Manchester 26 - Rossendale 21.

North’s 1st XV travelled to Rossendale to face a side who were 3 divisions above them in the League structure. North had not played for three weeks and in the first ten minutes you could certainly tell as the home side dominated the game. North were facing a fierce wind and were camped inside their own 22 in the opening minutes allowing Rossendale to open the scoring with a converted try. North began to come back into the game and scored to glorious tries to take the lead. Fly-half James Hyland was having an outstanding game and exchanged passes with centre Dave Vickers before breaking the line and getting behind the home defence. Hyland drew in the full-back before passing to support runner Matthew Wallace who ran in under the posts for the score. The fly-half converted the try he had created to level the scores at 7-7. Centre Chris Hyland scored the next try from 40 metres after running a devastating line and racing away from a chasing defence to score in the corner. The conversion was missed in strong winds but North led 12-7 after 25 minutes. Rossendale again pressured and controlled possession for the rest of the half. North’s defence was spectacular during this time with Vickers, Wallace, Kev Green and Lee Roberts excelling during this period. Rossendale were an excellent team and despite North’s best efforts, went into the lead on the stroke of half-time with a converted try after the home side’s big centre had crashed over the line from 5 metres to make the score14-12.

Rossendale continued to dominate in the opening minutes of the second half and North’s scrum was under pressure. A powerful push by the home pack forced North backwards allowing Rossendale to steal the ball. For once, North’s defence was brushed aside allowing the home No.8 to race under the posts for the score. The try was converted and Rossendale led 21-12. North were then dealt a further blow when they lost centre Dave Vickers, who was having an inspirational game, with a rib injury. A re-shuffle by North meant Tony Donley returned from injury at prop and the versatile Lee Roberts moved to centre, and each played a massive part in the outcome of the game.

Despite the fact North had not 1st XV had not played for 3 weeks, they seemed to get stronger in the closing stages. Prop Donley’s presence meant North now had the upper hand in the scrum, and this allowed No. 8 Chris Taylor to score a trademark try from the base of the scrum from 10 metres. James Hyland added a difficult conversion and North had closed the score to 21-19 with only minutes left. North were in the ascendancy and scored the winning try after great work from Steve Atkinson and Kev Green allowed stand in centre Lee Roberts to race towards the try line. Roberts passed out of the tackle to support runner Ian Thompson to run in under the posts for the winning try. James Hyland converted and to give North an impressive 26-21 victory over a very good side.

North played extremely well, but Matthew Wallace, James Hyland and Le Roberts were outstanding. Dave Vickers was awarded the ETC Communications man of the match award for a brilliant display in both defence and attack.