Young Tarleton side hold off Rochdale

Tarleton seconds hosted Rochdale thirds at Carr Lane on Saturday and fielded a much changed team due to even more injuries and call-ups to the First XV.

A young squad with a sprinkling of older heads took to the field to face a much older and bigger side fielded by Rochdale.

From the start Rochdale made their game plan pretty clear with their big forwards being used as battering rams to try and expose weaknesses in the Tarleton defence, which they failed to do. The opening 20 minutes were a bit of a stalemate and both sides were guilty of making many basic errors which didn’t allow the game to flow.

It was from of this defensive work that Luke Wilkinson stole the ball in mid-field and it was quickly moved across the line and Jake Abram beat the remaining defender to score a good try. The conversion hit the upright but Tarleton had a 5-0 lead.

From the restart the ball was taken by Sam Bradshaw who ran through the Rochdale defence and gave a try-scoring pass to Lewis Burton who put the ball down between the posts. George Cook added the extras and Tarleton were 12-0 ahead.

Rochdale continued with their game plan but also started to kick for position and it was from a line out that they took the ball into the forwards and after seven phases crashed over to score, the conversion was missed and the score stood at 12-5.

Five minutes later Rochdale were awarded a penalty in Tarletons’ 22 and took it quickly catching the Tarleton defence on the back foot, the ball was spun wide and Rochdale crashed over to score. The conversion was slotted and the scores were level at 12-12 with four minutes to go to the break.

Tarleton camped in Rochdales’ 22 for the last minutes of the half but couldn’t cross the whitewash. Rochdale were awarded a scrum and knew that they just had to win this and kick the ball out and the half-time whistle would go.

However, Tarleton turned the scrum over, George Cook spun the ball wide for Phil Campion to take crash ball and plough his way through the Rochdale defence to score out wide. The conversion was missed but at half Time Tarleton led by 17 points to 12.

The second half was a  scrappy start and Rochdale started the better with a prolonged period in Tarletons’ half that eventually led to a five-metre penalty for Tarleton killing the ball. Rochdale took full advantage of this and using their big players again crashed over to score. The conversion was good and for the first time in the match Rochdale led.

Trailing 19-17, Tarleton continued to pressurise and from a well-placed up and under the ball bounced kindly and Sam Bradshaw took it on the burst and ran in from 30 yards to score. The conversion was pulled left and Tarleton led 22-19 with 12 minutes to go.

It was a very nervy 12 minutes and Tarleton had to continue to defend; a let-off occurred when Rochdale missed a kickable penalty from in front of the posts and despite defending their line for the final five minutes it was Tarleton who came away with the win as George Cook cleared the ball into touch for the final whistle to blow.