Law Cup: Rochdale Hornets 12 - 29 Oldham Roughyeds

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Law Cup: Rochdale Hornets v Oldham Roughyeds

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Rochdale Hornets suffered defeat at the hands of local rivals Oldham Roughyeds at Spotland as the Law Cup returned after a three year absence.

A six minute spell in the first half saw Oldham run in three back-to-back tries to take a stranglehold on the game.

Torrential rain affected the quality of a game that started badly for Hornets as they conceded just five minutes into the contest. Danny Grimshaw dummied his way through the line and raced away to score.

Hornets hit back  when skipper Wayne English was on the end of Yates’ grubber, which had been hacked into the in-goal by Jordan Case. Paul Crook’s conversion put Hornets 6-4 ahead.

Then came the six minute period in which the game was won as, firstly, Jack Spencer found a way on to Lewis Palfrey’s grubber which had been fumbled by the defence.

Soon after Jamal Chisholm was in for a try as Hornets failed to deal with a high kick on the last tackle and the ball found its way to the wide man in acres of space.

The third try came on the half hour mark when Roper exposed a hole in the Hornets defence to find Michael Ward in support, who touched down under the posts.

Palfrey converted all three efforts to give his side a 22-6 lead at the break.

Ward was in again 10 minutes into the second half as he forced his way over from close range for a second try. Palfrey converted for a 22 point advantage.

Warren Thompson was back in a Hornets shirt for the first time in 2016 and celebrated with a try seven minutes later, as Ben Moores found the front rower with a cut out ball from dummy half and he was too strong for the defence to stop. With Crook not returning for the second half Danny Yates converted from in front of the posts.

Hornets needed three tries to claw their way back in front and they came up with some inventive rugby league to try and find those tries, however their handling in vital areas let them down.

Oldham did enough to see out the remainder of the game and Palfrey’s late drop goal saw the final score stand at 29-12, as Oldham retained the Law Cup.

Rochdale Hornets: Wayne English, Corey Lee, Chris Riley, Lewis Galbraith, Dale Bloomfield, Paul Crook, Danny Yates, Warren Thompson, Ben Moores, Matty Hadden, Jordan Case, James Dandy,  James Tilley.
Subs: John Cookson, Alex McClurg, Samir Tahraoui, Jack Francis, Alex Trumper, Jack Johnson,  Joe Philbin
Tries: English (16), Thompson (57)
Goals: Crook 1/1, Yates 1/1

Oldham Roughyeds: Richard Liprori,  Jack Holmes,  Thomas Ashton, Jon Ford, Jamal Chisholm, Lewis Palfrey,  Danny Grimshaw, Phil Joy,  Gareth Owen, Jack Spencer, Josh Crowley,  Danny Langtree, Will Hope.
Subs: Adam Files, Kenny Hughes, Sam Gee, Micky Wood, Michael Ward, Liam Thompson, Steven Roper.
Tries: Grimshaw (5), Spencer (23), Chisholm (25), Ward (29, 50)
Goals: Palfrey 4/5
Field Goal: Palfrey (78)