Roughyeds go four from four and seal Law Cup

Oldham retained the Law Cup and gained a fourth straight win in the Betfred Championship with a resounding win over Rochdale Hornets on Good Friday.

Roughyeds proved far too strong for the Hornets, who, despite grabbing two late consolation tries, found it difficult to break through.

Oldham struck at pivotal moments, stretching their lead to 18–0 right on the stroke of half-time after defending six consecutive sets on their own line and they pulled clear beyond reach in the second half.

“It really shows the character of the team,” said Roughyeds boss Alan Kilshaw.

I didn’t think we would put a big score on with the conditions and with it being a derby, but what we did was learn how to defend under fatigue and get into grinds – that will benefit us.”

The Roughyeds head coach made a number of changes for the derby, with Josh Drinkwater and Matty Ashurst given well-earned rests.

Despite the changes, there was no wavering in the level of the Roughyeds’ performance, with Riley Dean and Ryan Lannon more than staking a claim for a starting spot next weekend.

Jaron Purcell opened the scoring, his power and strength proving too much for Rochdale as Oldham surged into a 6-0 lead, with Dean calmly adding the first of six successful conversions.

Brad Day doubled the lead as he ripped through the line off the back of impressive carries from Owen Farnworth and Ted Chapelhow.

Having absorbed a lot of Rochdale pressure, Cole Geyer sparked into life to catch Hornets cold, with Jack Walker doing the rest for an 18-0 lead at the break.

Oldham’s full-back was hungry for more and he danced his way to a second early in the second half.

Jake Bibby was next up, diving over in the corner after a sublime hand-off from Ben O’Keefe.

Then came the Rochdale consolations, with TJ Boyd and Dan Nixon scoring late on before Oldham responded through Bayley Liu who powered past three Hornets tacklers to wrap up the 36-10 win.

Before those Rochdale tries, Oldham had gone over three and a half hours of rugby without conceding a single point, further evidence of their defensive resilience.

“We rested a couple of players and we’ve come through it unscathed – and we’ve got a pretty resounding win,” Kilshaw added.

I don’t think we were troubled at any part of the game even though we put a lot of pressure on ourselves at times.

So we didn't help ourselves, and we all said at half-time that the only way they would score is from a kick, and they've ended up scoring off two, which is disappointing.

But there were some really good signs defensively again and some really good signs with the ball.

I just think it needs to come together in a full 80-minute performance, and that's what we're chasing.”

The win moves Roughyeds up to sixth in the table, ahead of Widnes on points difference, with a game in hand on three of the top five, heading into their game against Halifax, who have won their last two.

“We’ve got a real embarrassment of riches in the forward areas, and that is good going into the game next week because we have to pick the best 17 for a tough game,” Kilshaw said.

The crowd at home will get behind them; it's emotional for them. It's going to be a tough game but one that we are looking forward to, and it's that type of game we need now.”