Browse Sections

• Rochdale FC
• Rochdale Hornets
• Local football
• Local cricket

Man-ly display from Rochdale

14/12/2004

Rugby Union
Vagabonds (IoM) 14
Rochdale 31

NOT many teams go to the Isle of Man and score 31 points against the Vagabonds a team who for obvious reasons perform better at home.

Rochdale started well and Mark Thomas was pulled down yards short after a surging 40-yard run.

Alan Badenhorst was on hand and forced the defender to kill the ball. Rochdale kicked for touch and from the line-out drove the ball over for the simplest of tries. Chris Johnson converted.

The visiting pack was well on top in the scrums, but the line-out was a different matter. Vagabonds took advantage to catch and drive over from close range.

Johnson slotted over a penalty to give Rochdale a 10-7 lead at half-time.

The second half belonged to the visitors, with the home team unable to get out of their own half.

Terry Valentyn at full-back, running from deep, caused all sorts of problems in the home team ranks and was unlucky not to score.

Johnson landed a long-range penalty to increase Rochdale's lead and from the restart the forwards set up a ruck near the half-way line.

Scrum-half and man-of-the-match Darren James spotted a gap on the blind-side, handed on to Andy Rowlinson, who put Mark Thomas in for a score near the posts.

Vagabonds were under a lot of pressure and were desperately trying to slow the game down. It took the referee some time to take action, but when he did Johnson was on hand once again.

The home team forced a mistake in the Rochdale midfield and a kick ahead saw Vagabonds' centre outpace the defence to score under the posts.

Their joy was short-lived. Ross Hartley put in a big tackle to dislodge the ball, James snapped up the loose ball and found Tim Sunderland in space. His timely pass found Andy Rowlinson who turned the remaining defender inside out to score a great try in the corner.

Rochdale captain Lee Riddle said after the game he was pleased with his team's performance, as were the 70 supporters who made the long journey.