Oldham RU return from the Isle of Man with a welcome victory

Oldham made the journey to the Isle of Man for their league fixture against Vagabonds on Saturday, and they returned home with a 43-17 victory.

It was an early start to get to Manchester Airport for the Manor Park men for a 1.30pm kick-off time.

Unlike the weather on the mainland, the sun was out at Vagabonds with little or no wind.

Oldham made a couple of changes with Ryan Lord returning following an injury and Adam Robinson making his first XV debut.

There was no sign of jet lag as Oldham started brightly and within the first few minutes had won a penalty in the Vagabonds half.

Alex Jobson stepped up and knocked it over to give Oldham an early 3-0 lead.

Oldham then scored their first try of the afternoon following some great defensive work with Oldham pouncing on a Vagabonds mistake.

Following quick ball from Louis Fitton and Tom Davies, Jobson hit a great line and ran in from 30 metres to score.

He converted the try to put Oldham 10-0 up in as many minutes.

Oldham’s defence initially, was too strong for the home side with Oldham forcing mistakes that they capitalised from territorially when given the chance.

From another turnover Oldham took the yards and won a lineout in the home sides 22 following a 50-22 from Fitton.

The lineout went to Isaac Dobbs and the Oldham pack drove over the line with the evergreen Rhys Jones scoring.

Jobson kicked the conversion for Oldham to stretch their lead to 17-0.

Vagabonds attempted to get themselves back into the game and were enjoying some possession and their scrum was putting pressure on at every opportunity.

However, Oldham had the better of it in open play and scored again through Ryan Lord following some decent phases of play down the left edge.

Lord, showing his finishing capabilities, finished in style and with Jobson converting to take Oldham to a 24-0 lead the away side having played with intensity and guile.

The home team, however, fought their way back and started to gain some momentum, and possession, to put pressure back on the visitors towards the end of the first half.

The odd mistake was pounced on from the home team as they answered back with a try through their forwards leading up to halftime and at the break the score was 24-5.

Whilst the coaching staff were happy with the first half performance, they stressed at half time that Oldham needed to get the foothold back to not let the home team the opportunity to get back into the game.

The second half started with both teams going at each other with neither being really able to get on top and it took a piece of individual brilliance to open the home team up as skipper Tom Davies intercepted a long Vagabonds pass to canter in from 40 yards to open up Oldham’s second half account and with Jobson’s conversion for a 31-7 lead, but more importantly the try bonus point in Oldham’s pocket.

Vagabonds to their credit came back into the game and enjoyed some time in possession.

Oldham saw the odd mistake come into their play and Vagabonds forward pack began to attack from penalties taking quick ones whenever they got the chance, and they were rewarded following concerted pressure on the Oldham line to fire back making it 31-10.

Oldham regrouped, and following some substitutions took charge again.

Oldham had a scrum in the Vagabonds 22 and from decent quick ball Tom Davies drew in the defence and hit Robinson with a sweetly-timed pass as Robinson ran a great line to scythe through the home team’s defence to put down under the posts.

With Jobson adding the extras the score went to 38-10 in Oldham’s favour.

Robinson added a second five minutes later following the Oldham backline utilising good ball to move it out with Robinson showing great pace to beat a number of defenders to make it a brace of tries for him on debut.

With Jobson missing the conversion Oldham now led 43-10 with the game going into the final quarter.

Vagabonds gave one last effort and put some pressure back on the visitors as they came back with Oldham now tiring and giving a number of penalties away in their 22 metre area.

Oldham lost a player to the sin bin which put more pressure on them when it really was not needed and with them down to 14 players the home side kept battering the Oldham line which eventually led the referee to award them a penalty try for repeated infringements on the try line.

This was to be the final score at 43-17.

Not the way Oldham wanted to finish the game however with a bonus point victory it was a case of job done for the visitors, who moved up another place in the league table to third but still with a game in hand over the league leaders.

Whilst Oldham played well as a team, there were some great performances for them with Robinson, Lord and Sean Carter, who continues to show great form since coming back from injury.

But it was Tom Davies being voted man of the match by the home team for his control of the game at standoff.

A great night with Vagabonds followed, with a few sore heads on the flight back on Sunday evening.

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