Rochdale 25 - 40 Warrington

Both clubs had enough players to field two 7 a side teams, I took the Reds squad, with Martin looking after the Greens.

Warrington Reds: Adam, Charlie B, Jack, George, Max, Patrick, Stephen
Warrington Greens: Archie, Eddie, Gareth, Gregor, Joe, Michael, Sam S

Warrington Reds 14 - 4 Rochdale A
Tries: Adam 5, Charlie 3, Max 2, Stephen 2, Jack, Patrick
This was without doubt the most complete performance of the season so far. The defence was outstanding, with Rochdale being driven backwards on their sets and this resulted in plenty of turnovers. Once we had the ball the attacking play was awesome, with plenty of long range tries, some of which were scored off superb support play. Rochdale defenders were left grasping at thin air during some of the runs by Adam and Charlie.
Special mention to George who in between picking up several injuries made a superb run and dived over the whitewash, unfortunately the line in question was 5 metres short of the tryline, so he didn't make it on the scoresheet.
It was a shame that the game ended following a clash of heads between Jack and a Rochdale player, with Jack seeming to come off worst, but he recovered and was able to play in the next match.

Warrington Greens 8 - 6 Rochdale B
Tries: Michael 4, Joe 3, Eddie
Good defensive play all round with tagging by Michael and Gregor to the fore.
One turnover forced by each side, but generally the Warrington defensive display was the stronger.
Tries were provided by Ed, Michael (4), Joe (3). Two of Joe’s in particular were the result of great support play and passing off the tag onto strong support running.

Warrington Reds 8 - 7 Rochdale B
Tries: Adam 2, Charlie 2, Stephen 2, Max, Patrick
A much tighter second game, with the win once again being built on stout defence, with Charlie standing out as lead tackler again - on one set he made all 7 tags when forcing a turnover! But this was no one man effort with Adam, Stephen and Jack also racking up the tackles for fun.
As we've come to expect, the attacking play was very good, and the tries were shared around following more great support play, however Stephen's length of the field run late in the game came to nothing as he failed to ground the ball properly, and the scoreline was left closer than it might have been.

Warrington Greens 10 -8 Rochdale A
Tries: Sam 4, Michael 3, Joe 2, Eddie
Was a bit more lethargic, but good defensive tagging by Michael, Gregor, Sam and Archie.
Another turnover was forced by Warrington, and Sam was lethal with his direct running.

Summary: It was very pleasing to come away with 4 wins out of 4, as Rochdale were good opposition, and contributed to some of the best matches I've seen this year. I think they will be a real handful next year when we move into contact (I can't wait!).

The 'Reds' performance in particular drew praise from all of the Rochdale coaches, particularly the defensive effort, as they have never been pressured like that before.

Big thanks to all of the parents for their vocal support, and to Rochdale for being great hosts - there really was some superb rugby played out there today!!