10 Try romp routes Rochdale

2 minutes later his right-wing team-mate Jack Crompton got on the score sheet after Zac Coultas broke the defensive line. Rochdale then started to apply pressure, almost scoring in the corner but were held out by some excellent Fleetwood defence. The Fleetwood forwards were taking ascendancy in open play setting up a great driving maul which allowed Craig Doherty to feed Paul Bamber who made a fine break to put Ricky Newton in for a try under the posts which he goaled himself. No.8 Steve Woodburn appeared in midfield and made good yards before off-loading to Bamber who released his backs but the final pass was spilled. Rochdale then had another period of pressure that came to nothing. Woodburn again took out 2 defenders in midfield before the ball was fed to centre Dan Orwin who put in a neat grubber kick to the corner which was pounced on by full-back Zac Coultas who goaled his own try from the touch-line, 24-0. Rochdale were a big physical team but could not live with the pace and fitness of a Fleetwood side that many clubs would be glad to have as their 1st team. The front row of Jamie Moran, James Lilley and Mark Evans held up the scrum well whilst it was great to welcome back Dave Fairbrother on the flank although the same player suffered an unfortunate shoulder injury after an impressive 20 minutes following his return from duty in Afghanistan. George Seymour took his place in the back row to join up with the impressive Woodburn and Nick Perkes who was also outstanding in loose play. Andy Holme and Pete Benny made up the “boilerhouse” of the second row, the former also enjoying a period in the front row following an injury to Moran..
Good defensive work by the backs led to a fumble by the Rochdale winger allowing Jack Crompton to race in for his second try. Newton converted. Half-time 31-0

2nd half

Zac Coultas started the game in the same fashion as the first half by out-stripping the defence for a converted try. After a scrappy period of play Woodburn restored order by typically taking out 3 defenders and off-loading to the grateful Coultas to complete his hat-trick, again goaled by Newton who was enjoying the role of kicker helping to build his own personal points tally.
Rochdale were running out of ideas other than to use brute force with Dan Orwin receiving some rough treatment with some dubious tackling technique. A period of Rochdale pressure did result in a try by their second row forward which was converted to reduce the deficit to 45-7. Fleet responded immediately, Newton collected the re-start and drove forward, setting up a platform for a period of sustained pressure. The Rochdale winger was finally sin-binned for another illegal tackle and Craig Doherty took a quick tap and dived over in the corner for a well-deserved try. George Seymour was also shown a yellow card as was James Lilley while Fleetwood brought on fresh legs of Marc Maher, Mike Dewhirst and Chris Travis. Dewhirst went to fly half with Maher in the centre, Bamber dropping to full-back. Rochdale tried to attack but were unfortunate to drop the ball over the line. Fleetwood immediately capitalised taking a quick 22 restart and forcing an error allowing Dan Orwin to sprint 50 metres for a try, converted by Newton.
The final score came through a well-rehearsed move which saw Dewhirst feed Bamber who put Phillips away for his second and the team’s 10th try of the match with a 40 metre finish. Newton finished off the scoring with the conversion to round off a superb team effort with an emphatic 64-7 victory against a previously unbeaten side which must surely send out a clear message to the rest of the league as well as putting pressure on their 1st team counterparts. Match sponsors nominated Zac Coultas as their man of the match.

Match report by Ian Cameron