Poor Roughyeds lose again
Date published: 28 February 2011
LUCAS Onyango takes on the Whitehaven defence in the Northern Rail Cup pool clash.
OLDHAM 4, WHITEHAVEN 14
Horror show leads to third straight defeat
ROUGHYEDS fans will be glad to see the back of the Northern Rail Cup.
Successive defeats by Halifax, Swinton Lions and Whitehaven have served to devalue that impressive starter which brought high-flying Hunslet Hawks down to earth with a bump early in the month.
Was it really only three weeks ago?
As for that 50-0 hammering of Whitehaven on the same ground in the SEAT Trophy game in January, it might have been from a previous season for all it matters as the start of the league campaign draws ever closer.
In truth, the Roughyeds we see now are but a shadow of the side that looked so good, so enthusiastic and so up-for-it right through the pre-season campaign and until they came a cropper at The Shay a fortnight ago.
The big worry yesterday was the side's inability, admittedly in awful conditions on a muddy pitch, to string together more than a couple of passes without dropping the ball.
Statistics tell only half the story. Roughyeds mishandled 21 times. What the stats don't relate is that many mistakes were unforced, on the first tackle or made deep inside Oldham territory with the home side already under siege.
'Haven adapted far better to conditions which called for percentage rugby, set completion, resolute defence and a good kicking game.
Unlike Roughyeds, they ticked most of those boxes — and if their set completion was only half-decent it was significantly better than Oldham's.
Anyone with a smattering of rugby nous had only to take a glance at the pitch to know that this would be a pack-dominated battle of attrition — a slog in the mud.
'Haven won it convincingly, although there were signs in the second half that the scales might have been tipped in the other direction if Tony Benson's men had applied themselves more professionally earlier in the game.
As the visitors tired in the later stages they began to concede penalties for the first time and they were stretched to breaking point as John Clough tested them out up the middle.
Clough twice went close to scoring near the posts, while John Gillam was stopped inches short of the line out on the left flank.
By this time 'Haven had already established their ten-point lead. And Oldham were chasing the game after opening the scoring with a Mark Brocklehurst try in the 16th minute.
Brocklehurst went on to give a gutsy performance at left centre. Only Paul Noone, also operating on the left, rivalled him for choice of Oldham's man of the match.
Earlier, Ben Heaton had turned defence into attack with a superb catch and counter up the touchline only to be caught from behind by Scott McAvoy.
But there was no denying Roughyeds when Neil Roden's high kick to the corner was palmed back inside by Gillam for the impressive Brocklehurst to touch down.
Matty Ashe's conversion attempt off the touchline dropped just under the bar — and Lewis Palfrey didn't need twice telling to opt for a kick at goal when Martin Roden was pulled up for play-the-ball interference.
Palfrey landed the first of his three goals, although he was wide of the mark when attempting to convert Danny Barker's try near the right-hand corner in the 26th minute.
Leading 6-4 at half-time, having played up the slope and against the wind, 'Haven added to Oldham's woes early in the second half thanks to the game-breaking expertise of substitute hooker Carl Sice.
His 40-20 got his side camped out on Oldham's line and in the next set he produced a defence-splitting grubber kick of the game to set up the all-important try under the posts for Andrew Beattie.
Palfey goaled and later made no mistake with a tremendous, wind-assisted penalty goal from half way to complete a satisfying afternoon for the Cumbrians — and a bitterly disappointing one for outplayed Oldham.
