Report: Rochdale Hornets 10-22 Midlands Hurricanes

Rochdale Hornets fell to a 22-10 defeat at home to high-flyers Midlands Hurricanes in Betfred League 1.

Mark Dunning’s side controlled large parts of the contest to put an end to the Hornets’ three-game winning run.

With blue skies over the Crown Oil Arena and no wind, the conditions were perfect for rugby league and after an attritional start, the opening exchanges were end-to-end with neither side mounting a real attack in the first few minutes.

It was Midlands who scored first after just seven minutes as Elliott Morris darted under a line of Hornets bodies to touch down from close range to land the first blow of the contest. 

With just over 15 minutes gone, the Hornets found space down the left-hand side as Max Flanagan opened up a gap in the Hurricanes defence before passing the ball inside to Lewis Else, who dived over to put Gary Thornton’s side on the scoreboard.

Midlands went close again midway through the first half. A high kick wasn’t dealt with by Gregg McNally which allowed Todd Horner to pounce, but scrambling cover from the home side denied a second try.

Ten minutes before the break, the visitors added a penalty goal after a tip tackle to establish a four-point lead. 

Five minutes from the interval, Rochdale produced one of their best moves of the match so far. A well-worked play from right to left found Myles Harrop who couldn’t gather the ball and squandered a chance to draw level.

On the stroke of half-time, a sustained period of Rochdale pressure forced Midlands to defend six more tackles on their goal-line, but despite their position, the Hornets couldn’t make the chance count.

Deane Meadows went closest, but he was deemed to have lost the ball when crashing over the line.

The game was on a knife edge at the break and could’ve gone either way in the second half, and the home team produced a high-tempo start to the final 40. 

A beautifully weighted kick from Gregg McNally looked like it was heading behind for a 20m restart, but Else was quick enough to pounce on it and grab his second of the afternoon, with Flangan adding the extras in front of the posts to give his side the lead for the first time in the game.

That lead, however, did not last long. Zeus Silk bundled his way over the line after being set up by a short pass from Mikey Wood. Jake Sweeting added the extra two to make it 14-10 and put the visitors back in front. 

Hurricanes were in again 15 minutes from time. Luis Roberts rose high to collect a huge cross-field kick from Sully Medforth to give them their third try of the contest and with the conversion from Sweeting, opened up a 10-point gap.

From the kick-off, the ball went into touch by a matter of inches. They had not had the rub of the green at all, and this summed up their afternoon.

More excellent defending from the away side restricted the Hornets further, and when they did have a rare second-half foray into the Midlands half, the defence was strong enough to drag them into touch.

Things went from bad to worse for the Hornets late on, captain Duane Straugheir being sent to the sin-bin for dissent. Sweeting once more struck a penalty goal to take the score to 22-10, which is how it finished.

Rochdale Hornets: McNally, Nixon, Ashton, Harrop, Forber, Else, Flanagan, Killan, O’Donnell, Nelmes, Straugheir, Dayes, Whittel. Subs: Burton, Andrade, Meadows, Newton.

Tries: Else (2)

Goals: Flangan

Midlands Hurricanes: Horner, Roberts, Hanley, Oakes, Chrimes, Sweeting, Medforth, Kirby, Roden, Morris, Hobson, Willis, Wood. Subs: Barcoe, Green, Silk, Jordan-Roberts.

Tries: Morris, Silk, Roberts

Goals: Sweeting (5)