Team: Captain Joe Howarth - BRUISER, Charlie Coward - CHOPPER, Jordan Taylor - MrT, Terence Butterworth - GINGER, Gianni Tucci - TANK, Calum Crook - HALO, Jacob Nuttall - SHARKY, Oliver Parkinson - PARKY, Wayne Bannister - LIGHTNING, Jay Benson - BRAINS, Jack Bainbridge - HEADLESS, Declan Woods - BLADE, Adam Sillett - UNDERTAKER

Man of the Match = Declan Woods BLADE

Todays Captain Joe gave a little speech beforehand to rally his troops. Unfortunately Rochdale only had 11 players so we had to play with no full backs. We won the toss and Joe decided to kick first. With MrT and Chopper charging down-field the opposition knocked on. The first scrum we won and took the ball upfield just dropping short of the line. Rochdale played the ball down there line and scored in the corner, converting it. As per usual it takes the U11s a good ten minutes to wake up, and Rochdale scored another try through the middle.This time they missed the conversion. With a couple of minutes left, and after they woke up and started to ruck over a passage of play that is what we believe in at Bury, allowed Blade to accelerate and with his mates in pursuit he scored in the corner, with Sharky converting.
End of first 3rd Rochdale 12 - 7 Bury

Second 3rd and our team had woke up.
With Parky now playing at Inside Centre he was making strong breaks down the middle and offloading to the players in attendance. This created space for Brains, Lightning and Headless out wide.
Bury powered towards the opposition try line but were stopped just short, resulting in a scrum to Bury. Ginger and Tank were ready to drive at 2nd Row and in doing so left the ball perfectly for Blade to collect and pass blindside to Headless who one against one beat his opposite number for his first try in Rugby. Sharky converted once again. Bury then had a lapse in concentration, not being on the back foot of the ruck allowed Rochdale back in with a simple short run through poor tackling in the back line. The Rochdale conversion kicker hit the bar and it bounced back so..
End of second 3rd Rochdale 17 - 14 Bury

Final third, and after some "persuasive" coaches talk, the lads knew they had to do some hard work.
Some good play from both sides end to end and the tie looked really close and neither side could score for all the hard work. Undertaker took to the pitch on the left wing and for some reason did more forward work there picking and driving, than he does when he plays in the forwards. He generated a maul and fed out to the line who passed wide right, and the forward maul drove like never before. The drive started just past half way and just carried on like a train towards there line. Once over the line we heard a joyous cry from the Bury boys but still didnt know who had scored. MrT emerged from the bottom of the pile with a ball in hand and a grin on his face. Sharky did the rest and the referee blew his whistle for full time

Full Time Rochdale 17 - 21 Bury

Next week sees us travel to Glossop, where last years visit ended up as a tri-fixture, so we will see.