Head coach Sean Long praised “dynamite” Cian Tyrer and Phoenix Laulu-Togaga’e as the pair extended their scoring runs in a hard-fought 46-10 win over Cornwall at Boundary Park.
Tyrer scored four tries for the League 1 leaders to add to his six at Hunslet last week, while PLT raced over twice to see off a resilient Cornwall who defied their lowly league position with a spirited display.
“Cornwall came here with real intent, they wanted to knock us off our perch and full credit to them,” Long told Roughyeds TV.
“We dropped our standards, our completion rate was poor compared to last week but take nothing away from Cornwall who worked hard and came here to spoil the party.”
Oldham’s fourth straight win sees them stay top of the early table and also saw Tara Jones make history as the first woman to referee a senior professional game in the Northern Hemisphere.
One worry though for Long was the hamstring injury suffered by Jordan Turner after half-time, with the Roughyeds captain now set for a spell on the sidelines.
It was Turner who got the ball rolling with an early try as the home side capitalised on back-to-back penalties. But any thought of the floodgates opening were nipped in the bud by a swift Cornwall response, former Roughyed Harry Aaronson diving in at the right corner. Then came Oldham’s best spell of the match as Cornwall made a mess of Danny Craven’s restart and Turner sent Cian Tyrer in for his first of the afternoon, before Craven himself dummied over for a fine individual score.
Tyrer grabbed his second after an interception from the skipper, and PLT waltzed through after a fine offload from the impressive Brad Gallagher to give the hosts a 26-4 half-time lead.
Both sides made a number of unforced errors in a patchy second half, Cornwall scoring early through centre Tom Ashton before The Roughyeds sparked back into life.
Tyrer grabbed his hat-trick with a powerful finish, again set up by the unfortunate Turner who pulled up injured in the process and left the field. Mackenzie Turner then dived in at the right corner, Tyrer added his fourth of the match – that’s ten in two games – after a trademark Adam Lawton burst, and PLT capped off the scoring with another electrifying step and finish.
“If we think we are going to win 60 points to nil every week then we have another thing coming,”
said Long, who was able to rest Matty Wildie, Jamie Ellis and Joe Wardle, while welcoming Elijah Taylor back from injury.
“Sometimes it is good to get a win when we have not completed as high or made a few errors and let a few tries out there. We will learn from this, it will be a good learning game.
“Brad Gallagher played well, Adam Lawton and our pack played well, and then Phoenix and Cian are just dynamite. Good to get ET back for 35 minutes which will do him really good moving forward.
“The lads are doing all the right things, we just know that we can get better each week. If you think that we are the finished article, we are not.
“JT will be out for a few weeks, he talks well and leads from the front so he will be a big loss for us going forward. We will have to get him scanned so hopefully it will only be two to three weeks.”
Oldham: Laulu-Togaga’e, Tyrer, Turner, Morgan, Turner, Craven, Astley, Kopczak, Aldridge, Farnworth, Gallagher, Lawton, J Chapelhow.
Subs: Paga, T Chapelhow, Taylor, Johnson.
Cornwall: Brown, Aaronson, Nichol, Ashton, Mitchell, Punchard, Black, Ross, Collins, Boots, Cullen, Simpson, Weetman.
Subs: Conroy, Dimech, Trerise, Lloyd.
Scorers:
Oldham:
Tries: Tyrer 4, Laulu-Togaga’e 2, J Turner, M Turner, Craven.
Goals: Craven 2, Tyrer 3.
Cornwall:
Tries: Aaronson, Ashton.
Goals: Brown.
