Fixture

This morning we hosted Caerleon for the last home game of this season. 

Caerleon won the toss and started the game and the Dale defence were strong putting in seven tackles before Max Rossiter took an interception.  Max passed to Thomas Gregory who was caught and tackled into touch.  Caerleon passed well between the team and broke the defence to open the scoring, 0-1.  Dale restarted with a pass back to Jordan Way, the ball went loose and was picked up by Caerleon.  James Williams took a bump and he was substituted by Zac Tucker.  The game restarted and a Thomas Gregory tackle was picked up by Max Rossiter he made good ground but was unable to keep possession.  Caerleon used the possession to score, 0-2. Dale restarted, Connor Thomas had a great run and offloaded, this time it was Gabriel Jones who took a bump and was taken off and replaced by Kian Godwin. The ball was passed to William Morgan and he used his power to cross the try line, 1-2.  Caerleon restarted and again we saw some good defensive work by the Dale, unfortunately the passing from Caerleon allowed them to spread the ball and take the try, 1-3.

First Third Oakdale 1 – Caerleon 3

Dale restarted and Max Rossiter took the ball into the Caerleon half, the ball went through a few phases and landed with William Davey who was there in support to cross the whitewash, 2-3.  On the restart we saw another great interception from Max Rossiter, possession passed back and fore, a scrum to the Dale saw William Morgan gain the Dale some ground, the ball went through the hands of Kian Godwin, William Morgan and Gabriel Jones before a knock on gave the scrum to Caerleon and allowed them to score, 2-4.  The Dale started with a good run by Max Rossiter, the ball was passed through the team, Jordan Way was tackled and the ball went loose, it went backwards and was quickly picked up by Zac Tucker, a forward pass by Gabriel to Caerleon, the ball came out of the scrum and wasn’t claimed, Kian Godwin flicked the ball back to Max Rossiter we were unable to use the possession and it resulted in Caerleon scoring, 2-5. Dale restarted and William Davey took the ball, his quick feet side stepped the defence he passed to Gabriel Jones and onto Thomas Gregory to score, 3-5.

First Third Oakdale 3 – Caerleon 5

Caerleon restarted the last third, and were quickly taken into touch.  Dale didn’t used the gained possession and the ball was intercepted.  Caerleon were within a meter of the try line and persisted but were once again taken into touch.   Dale handling skills were letting them down and the ball was dropped, Thomas Gregory pushed them back but it wasn’t enough and Caerleon scored, 3-6.  Dale restarted with a run from Kian Godwin who passed to Oliver Cooke, he offloaded before being tackled, great hands by William Davey caught the ball and used his speed to score, 4-6.

Final Score Oakdale 4 – Caerleon 6

Man of the Match – William Davey

Coaches Comments – the defence was superb today, some handling errors lead to loss of possession, overall a good effort against a team who had a squad of 23 and were able to make regular substitutions. There will be much needed handling practice at training this week!