Rochdale Hornets 21 - 8 Doncaster

Photo: JMSportPix

Matty Hadden and Josh Crowley tackling

Rochdale Hornets cemented a second-place finish in the regular season table with a victory against Doncaster - Hornet's twelfth victory from their 14 league games this season.

Both wingers were changed this week with Corey Lee replacing duel-registered Tom Lineham and Lewis Galbraith started as suspended Dale Bloomfield missed out on making his 100th appearances in the Hornets colours due to a one game ban handed to him from the win at Hemel two weeks prior.

Samir Tahraoui came off the bench and into the starting 13 in place of Warren Thompson who was named as a substitute.

Jake Shoal was needed as a last minute replacement (for Dave Cookson who pulled up in the warm-up) meaning he filled in at wing with Galbraith moving into the centre.

Shoal came closest to scoring the first points early on for Hornets when he was bundled out of play a few metres from the line. However, it was Ben Moore who put the first points on the board as he scored under the posts.

A good break from Jo Taira found Galbraith who did brilliantly to offload back to the big Fijian as he was being bundled over the line but then a break from Moores ended with his pass inside ten metres out being cut out by the visitors when Galbraith was clear to his left.

A quick exchange of penalties for either side led to the next score; Connor Scott dived over after breaking the Hornets defence to the left of the posts . Jordie Hedges added the extras to tie the score.

The heavens opened and slippery fingers from Doncaster as Hornets won a scrum 25 yards from their own line allowed Galbraith to slip through the fingers of Jason Tali and he almost found Danny Yates to his left but he couldn’t keep hold of the ball and knocked on with the line in sight.

Doncaster were awarded a penalty five metres from the Hornets line but despite some nifty offloading, the Hornets defence held firm and the kick through on the final tackle sailed over the dead ball line and out of play.

Hornets were struggling to string a set together outside of their own half as they entered the last 15 minutes of the first half and when a kick was played into the opposition half by Yates, Hornets were penalised for holding down in the tackle.

As normal play resumed David Foggin-Johnstone came close to handing his side the lead but he knocked on as he looked to ground the ball.

An excellent line-break from Yates almost saw him give Hornets the lead before the break but after swerving around one man he was brought down by two determined defenders just a few yards away.

A mistake from Hornets saw a chance gifted to Doncaster and Hedges to added another two points to give Doncaster the lead from the subsequent penalty.

Hornets were awarded a penalty 15 metres in front of the posts but rather than take the easy two points, they opted to run it and Ryan Maneely almost found the try line but was held up on his back.

A second attempt saw Hornets win a goal-line drop out but they gave the ball away with a knock on after a short kick out from Doncaster.

With a minute remaining of the half, Doncaster were awarded another penalty for a ball-steal 18 metres out to the right of the posts and Hedges decided he would take the two points to extend his side’s lead further, but he scuffed his kick across the face of the goal and wide.

Doncaster came out strong in the second half but were penalised for a dumping tackle on Jordan Case inside the first five minutes which allowed Hornets to put together their first meaningful set of the half.

It paid off as Benjamin Julien was able to dodge a tackle close to the line and pass right to Corey Lee, who made no mistake to touch down in the corner to give Honrets the lead. Crook missed the kick in the wet conditions.

Just as the Hornets were beginning to build some momentum in the game and get on top of Doncaster, Jono Smith knocked on deep inside the Doncaster half and handed possession back.

As Doncaster worked their way up the pitch following that error,  Shoal spilled the ball under no pressure in a much more dangerous position in front of his own posts. However, good defensive work saw Aaron Jones-Bishop bundled out of play.

In the following set, Shoal made amends by breaking down the left wing and kicking ahead for Yates to race on to and slide over for an easy four points. Crook added the extras.

A knock on by Matt Welham gave Hornets the chance at another set of six on a free play but Taira couldn’t quite get over the line with three players around him. Wayne English eventually knocked-on to hand the ball back to Doncaster.

An injury to Taira saw him be replaced by Thompson as Hornets doggedly defended their line.

A Hornets scrum 20 metres out from Doncaster’s line allowed them to work the ball across the field and English’s offload to Julien saw him break through a couple of would-be tacklers to score Hornets' third try of the half.

An error from the re-start saw the ball fail to go the required 10 metres, resulting in a penalty for Hornets - but Smith was held up over the line.

A late drop-goal from Yates added the icing to the cake for the Hornets.

The win secured second place in the table for Hornets and they now look forward to Wednesday when the fixtures for the top eight will be announced.

Rochdale Hornets

1) Wayne English
21) Corey Lee
24) Jake Shoal
29) Benjamin Julien
4) Lewis Galbraith
6) Paul Crook
7) Danny Yates
19) Jo Taira
9) Ben Moores
15) Samir Tahraoui
11) Jono Smith
17) Josh Crowley
13) James Tilley

Subs (all used) 
20) Ryan Maneely
16) Matty Hadden
10) Warren Thompson
12) Jordan Case

Doncaster

1) Matt Welham
2) David Foggin-Johnstone
3) Sam Doherty
4) Jason Tali
18) Aaron Jones-Bishop
22) Louis Sheriff
32) Makalie Aizue
14) Ryan Wright
10) Connor Scott
11) Jack Walton
12) Liam Welham
13) George Milton

Subs (all used) 
9) Keiron Cross
29) Zach Braham
8) Mark Castle
16) Joe Pickets-O’Donnell

Ref: C Straw
Attendance: 591
Man-of-the-match: Jono Smith