MATCH REPORT: Rochdale Hornets 14 - 10 Midlands Hurricanes

ROCHDALE EDGE CANES IN A CLOSE FOUGHT ENCOUNTER

The Canes approached the Crown Oil Arena for their fourth consecutive away game on Sunday having had a strong showing on the road, with a narrow 25-18 loss to Hunslet at the South Leeds Stadium followed up with strong 10-44 and 18-32 wins over Newcastle Thunder and North Wales Crusaders respectively. Their opponents – Rochdale Hornets – had a similarly strong showing having dispatched Hunslet 18-48 before drawing 20-20 with Keighley Cougars, however the Hornets last game saw them on the wrong side of a 14-12 result at Workington. In terms of head-to-head, the two sides were evenly matched but the hosts were two from two, having won 24-20 in the Challenge Cup before winning 28-38 at The Alex in Round One of the league.   

Even before a ball had been kicked, the Canes had been struck by injuries to Brad Clavering in the previous training session and Vice-Captain Jon-Luke Kirby being banned for a late hit on North Wales' Carl Forster. This was compounded by Davey Dixon no longer being able to play following a head clash with Matty Chrimes in the warm-up, resulting in Ross Oakes moving to the starting line-up and 18th man Aaron Willis moving to the bench in his place. Both players had come back from lengthy spells out and found themselves thrown straight back into a physical encounter with a determined Hornets side.

The first 15 minutes was, predictably, evenly matched. The home side threatened to score first as a pass out to Rochdale's wing seemed destined to result in a try, however some strong defending from Matty Chrimes saw the home side bundled over the dead-ball line to earn us a 20m restart. The resulting set saw Callum McLelland try to repay Chrimes for his efforts with an audacious looping cut-out pass from 10m metres out, however the pass had too much behind it and whizzed in front of Matty into touch. Four minutes later, Rochdale almost scored their first again as they slowly worked their way around some frantic Canes defence, however the final pass a metre out was deemed forward and Midlands breathed a sigh of relief. Just two minutes later we almost broke the deadlock as Jake Sweeting – playing his first game in two months after injury – appeared to have squirmed through multiple Rochdale players to put the ball down over his head, however referee Andy Sweet determined that Sweeting had knocked the ball on before grounding.  

His partner in crime – Callum McLelland – finally broke the deadlock a few minutes later as his trademark dummy was sold to the Rochdale defence as he raced through a gap 15 metres out to score (0-4). Our live reporter was maintaining a razor-sharp focus as he correctly confirmed that Matty Chrimes kicked the extras from right of the sticks (0-6). This appeared to inspire the home side, who engaged in a campaign of relentless attack on the Canes line for virtually the remainder of the half. Despite having to defend multiple sets on their line and Rochdale throwing the kitchen sink, the Canes eventually regained possession on the last tackle and got out of their own half for the first time in a while. Sweeting attempted to make the most of this opportunity by slotting a drop-goal from 30m out, however his strike was not clean and sliced into a Rochdale defender. The half-time hooter sounded shortly thereafter and the Canes left the pitch with a slender lead over the hosts.  

HALF-TIME: Rochdale Hornets 0 – 6 Midlands Hurricanes   

In what proved to be the key part of the whole game, the Hornets had a strong flurry in the first ten minutes that the Canes – for all their efforts in the first half – could not keep at bay. After just four minutes the hosts levelled the scores as a Canes penalty for interference in the ruck resulted in Jamaican international Jordan Andrade barging over to the left of the sticks from 10m out (4-6). Mackenzie Harman – on loan from Hull FC – added the extras (6-6). Just a minute later the hosts went back-to-back as another penalty presented Andrade with another opportunity to barge over from short range, this time to the right of the sticks (10-6), with Harman once again converting from close to the posts (12-6).

The next 20 minutes represented the first 15 – evenly matched and physical, with both sides knocking lumps out of the other and coughing up the ball mid-set. This deadlock was temporarily broken just before the 70 minute mark as the Canes were penalised 35 metres out from their line and Rochdale – sensing there was an opportunity to close the game out – collected the kicking tee and handed the ball to Harman who had no trouble kicking the penalty (14-6). A hint of a comeback wafted under the Canes' fans noses as a strong attacking was finished with a Callum McLelland bomb that the Hornets defence could not deal with, and Liam Welham was the first to pounce on the ball for his 10th try of the season, only one behind leading try-scorer Tom Wilkinson (14-10). Matty Chrimes was unfortunately unable to convert from out wide, however the Canes were still within a converted try of winning the game.

With a little under 60 seconds to go, Liam Welham made a break down the left edge and looked to pass out wide to Matty Chrimes, however the pass was not dealt with and bobbled into touch. The final hooter sounded shortly during the resulting set restart, and the Hornets breathed a sigh of relief as they did the double over the Canes this season.

The results around the grounds in League 1 were mixed for the Canes – Workington's 30-8 away victory over Cornwall puts them level with the Canes on points but substantially behind on points difference, however Hunslet's comfortable 46-16 win over North Wales means the Canes remain two points clear in the playoff race. The wins for Hunslet and Rochdale, however, mean a 3rd or 4th placed finish may now be out of reach.

The next two weeks see the Canes take on the top two teams in the League – Head Coach Mark Dunning will undoubtedly now be turning his attention to our fifth consecutive away game at Cougar Park to take on second place Keighley Cougars, who were on the receiving end of a heavy 44-6 defeat to the Canes subsequent opponents in Oldham.

Man of the Match:

Ross Oakes (sponsored by Geoff and Maureen Hammond)

Scoring sequence:

0-4, 0-6, 4-6, 6-6, 10-6, 12-6, 14-6 and 14-10.