Back
Saints retain top spot
Tony McArdle10 Nov - 15:47
A week off after the draw away at Burton Saints were back with a bonus point victory.
With tradition both teams lined up for 2 minutes silence in respect of Remembrance Sunday. Round eight visitors Rochdale Rugby club where promoted last season and like ourselves when we came up have struggled to really find any sort of form in their first season and where 11th in the table.
Great conditions greeted both teams dry and bright and a pitch in excellent condition, Saints put pressure on the Rochdale pack from the outset allowing the dynamic centre Myles Holmes plenty of room to power his way through the centre of Dales defence before slipping the ball to Olly Dodd who raced over the line untouched to score under the sticks, converted by Baldwin and a 7-0 lead. Saints pack dominant in the scrum all game, allowed Harrison Crowe to power off a scrum 25m out and with a pass out to the wing Sam Cosgrove Strolled under the posts to score and an easy conversion for Baldwin 14-0.
Rochdale consistently attacked whenever they had the ball and despite several runs from their centre and wing where unable to trouble the Saints try line, with 20m on the clock it was scrum half Lewis Kincart who found himself on the wing where he slipped a tackle to score out wide, again converted by Baldwin and give Saints a 21-0 lead. After a series of punishing scrum penalties, Saints went for a 5m line out, the ball was collected by the pack and driven over the line where a simple pat down by John Whittaker secured the try and bonus point converted by the boot of Baldwin for a comfortable 28-0 lead.
Rochdale where under pressure again and with half time approaching it was MOM Holmes who powered through the backline to score again converted by Baldwin 35-0 an excellent unexpected result so far 2nd half started well with Dodd going over in the corner after Holmes again tore through the Dale defence another conversion to Baldwin gave Saints a 42-0 lead. However, Rochdale managed to score a converted try themselves bringing them a little joy 42-7 on what was becoming a very heavy defeat, Saints emptied the bench giving everyone game time and a lift in energy levels. After a 10m out line out it was Big Fred Clark who came off a ruck to power through a couple of defenders to score easy conversion again to Baldwin 49-7 Saints now had total grip on the game unfortunately having a couple of tries held up over the line though, third attempt saw Ben Jones who went over under the sticks with nobody near him to score making it when converted 56 -7. Final play was a line out where hooker Joe Sanders scored his 13th try off the season missed by Baldwin to make it a comfortable 61-7 win.
Our next game is away to Wirral on the 22nd.
Great conditions greeted both teams dry and bright and a pitch in excellent condition, Saints put pressure on the Rochdale pack from the outset allowing the dynamic centre Myles Holmes plenty of room to power his way through the centre of Dales defence before slipping the ball to Olly Dodd who raced over the line untouched to score under the sticks, converted by Baldwin and a 7-0 lead. Saints pack dominant in the scrum all game, allowed Harrison Crowe to power off a scrum 25m out and with a pass out to the wing Sam Cosgrove Strolled under the posts to score and an easy conversion for Baldwin 14-0.
Rochdale consistently attacked whenever they had the ball and despite several runs from their centre and wing where unable to trouble the Saints try line, with 20m on the clock it was scrum half Lewis Kincart who found himself on the wing where he slipped a tackle to score out wide, again converted by Baldwin and give Saints a 21-0 lead. After a series of punishing scrum penalties, Saints went for a 5m line out, the ball was collected by the pack and driven over the line where a simple pat down by John Whittaker secured the try and bonus point converted by the boot of Baldwin for a comfortable 28-0 lead.
Rochdale where under pressure again and with half time approaching it was MOM Holmes who powered through the backline to score again converted by Baldwin 35-0 an excellent unexpected result so far 2nd half started well with Dodd going over in the corner after Holmes again tore through the Dale defence another conversion to Baldwin gave Saints a 42-0 lead. However, Rochdale managed to score a converted try themselves bringing them a little joy 42-7 on what was becoming a very heavy defeat, Saints emptied the bench giving everyone game time and a lift in energy levels. After a 10m out line out it was Big Fred Clark who came off a ruck to power through a couple of defenders to score easy conversion again to Baldwin 49-7 Saints now had total grip on the game unfortunately having a couple of tries held up over the line though, third attempt saw Ben Jones who went over under the sticks with nobody near him to score making it when converted 56 -7. Final play was a line out where hooker Joe Sanders scored his 13th try off the season missed by Baldwin to make it a comfortable 61-7 win.
Our next game is away to Wirral on the 22nd.
Further reading