During Leigh's spell in Super League in 2005 I covered a few other teams over the course of the year for the Rugby League Express - here is one of the game reports. Interesting that 12 of the 17 Rochdale players either play for Leigh now or have had a previous spell with the club.
Rochdale Hornets 24
Doncaster Dragons 34
Dave Parkinson from Spotland
Play-off chasing Doncaster made it two wins on the bounce with this impressive victory over lacklustre Rochdale. A physical game yielded 21 penalties and saw starring roles played by Graham Holroyd and two-try centre Craig Farrell.
Both sides started nervously in the greasy conditions and Rochdale in particular, failed to establish a foothold despite John Braddish’s well-struck 40-20. Good defence from the visitors denied Hornets winger Andy Saywell and the Dragons proved more clinical, scoring the first of six tries when former Hornet Latham Tawhai sent Lee Harland racing into the gap and over the top of fullback Chris Giles.
Holroyd added the first of five goals and the influential stand-off was heavily involved two minutes later, kicking a 40-20 to guarantee the Dragons possession; then working cleverly at a scrum for Craig Miles to show his pace at the corner. It was all Doncaster and they were unlucky not to score again after 16 minutes when a Tawhai kicked with pinpoint accuracy and Craig Farrell was held short of the line.
Hornets replied in the 19th minute with a Mark McCully penalty after Doncaster were found guilty of stripping the ball in the tackle. For a short time the game descended into farce with the whistle of referee Julian King punctuating play at regular intervals as the penalties stacked up in favour of the Hornets. This spell certainly unsettled the hosts who once more tried to get Saywell over for a try only for good defence from Ben Cockayne to force him out.
The Dragon’s fullback then turned try-scorer after 26 minutes, bursting through some weak tackling near the Hornets and the visitors finished the half with a fourth try when Holroyd provided a pass for Farrell and the centre showed immense strength to hold off two defenders.
Trailing 2-20 at the interval, Hornets had to score first and despite the efforts of skipper Andy Gorski, who created a chance for McCully to feed Radney Bowker, experienced Marvin Golden chased back to deny a score.
It was the Dragons who then extended their lead after 47 minutes. Debutant Danny Mills was held short and Craig Cook then fed Craig Lawton for an easy try converted brilliantly from the touchline by Holroyd. He added a straightforward penalty four minutes later to extend the visitors advantage to 28-2 before a spirited Hornets revival saw them claim three tries in seven minutes.
The first, a penalty try, was awarded to Gareth Price after 55 minutes when the big prop had the ball ripped from his grasp in a three man tackle as he lunged for the line.
Bowker created the next two Hornets scores from the boot as they made the most of Mills hesitation on the right wing. Dave Alstead chased hard from a scrum to score after 59 minutes then Chris Campbell created all the pressure to touchdown after 62 minutes.
By this time Hornets were desperately trying to rescue the game and Sam Butterworth weaved in and out of the Dragons line before his pass was snapped up by Farrell and the centre ran 40 metres for his second try, the clincher, eleven minutes from time.
The impressive Butterworth made amends two minutes later with a fine individual try which McCully converted but it was too little too late for Hornets and Doncaster took the spoils.
Rochdale Assistant Coach Darren Shaw conceded that his team was second best on the day but felt there were some positives to be taken from the performance.
“We didn’t give ourselves a chance at all.” He said. “Doncaster are an in your face sort of team. In the first half they played it real smart.
“They drove their forwards in and kicked and put some pressure on with their kick-chase game.
“We tweaked a few things at halftime and once we got a bit of momentum we scored, then when we built pressure we scored again. We got a couple of tries from our kicks. The intercept broke our back a little bit and we just left things a bit too late.”
GAMEBREAKER: Farrell’s interception try left Hornets with too much work to do.
GAMESTAR: Graham Holroyd rolled back the years with a vintage performance and superb kicking game behind a dominant pack.
MATCHFACTS:
HORNETS
1 Chris Giles
2 Andrew Saywell
3 Mark McCully
4 David Alstead
5 Chris Campbell
6 Radney Bowker
7 John Braddish
8 Rob Ball
9 Dave McConnell
10 Gareth Price
11 Richard Varkulis
12 Lee Doran
13 Andrew Gorski
Subs (All Used)
14 Sam Butterworth
15 Tommy Hodgkinson
16 David Cunliffe
17 John Hill
Tries: Price (55), Alstead (59), Campbell (62), Butterworth (71).
Goals: McCully 4/5.
Sinbinned –
Sent-off –
Dragons
1 Ben Cockayne
2 Dean Colton
3 Marvin Golden (3rd D)
4 Craig Farrell
5 Craig Miles
6 Graham Holroyd
7 Latham Tawhai
8 Gareth Handford
9 Craig Cook
10 Lee Harland
11 Craig Lawton
12 Peter Green
13 Martin Moana
Subs (All Used)
14 Danny Mills (D)
15 Tom Buckenham
16 Martin Ostler
17 Dean Andrews
Tries: Harland (10), Miles (12), Cockayne (26), Farrell (34, 69), Lawton (47).
Goals: Holroyd 5/7.
Sinbinned –
Sent-off –
Rugby Leaguer & League Express Men of the Match
Rochdale: Andrew Gorski
Doncaster: Graham Holroyd
Referee: Julian King (St Helens)
Penalty count: 12-9
Half-time: 2-20
Attendance: 806
Scoring sequence: 0-6; 0-10; 2-10; 2-16; 2-20; 2-26; 2-28; 8-28; 12-28; 18-28; 18-34; 24-34.
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