Rochdale Hornets 32 - Swinton Lions 29

SWINTON'S recent habit of giving the opposition a good start when playing away from home continued at Spotland on Sunday.

Hornets raced into a 22-0 lead inside half an hour as Swinton made a woeful start.

But the pride instilled in his troops by coach Mike Gregory shone through in the end and the Lions were unlucky to lose after the 80 minutes.

Hornets went 6-0 up when Chris Kelly slipped a pass to Shaun Cooper to score a try that Peter Fitzgerald converted. Fitzgerald then missed a penalty kick when Ian Watson stole the ball from Chris McKinney.

Fifteen minutes into the game Mark Welsby was tackled behind his own goalline and Watson's drop out was a low one towards the right wing.

Cooper scooped up the ball, waltzed round Richard Henare as though he didn't exist and touched down in the corner with no tackle being made.

Damien Cleary lost the ball in a one-on-one tackle to Darren Robinson and the Rochdale man raced away to score under the posts. Fitzgerald's goal took the score to 16-0.

Simon Ashcroft, possibly playing his last game for the club, lost the ball from a Kelly bomb-kick close to the Lions line. Phil Cousins collected and scored a simple try in the corner.

A high tackle by Watson on McKinney saw Fitzgerald extend the lead to 22-0 before the Lions got back into the game with two tries before half time.

From a scrum win 20 metres out Cliff Eccles took four Hornets defenders over the line for a try which Watson converted. Three minutes later more pressure on the Hornets line saw Watson send a great pass out to Welsby who touched down in the corner to make the half time score 22-10.

At that time it was all Swinton. Watson's kick behind the line saw Richie Eyres just beaten by the bounce and Ian Blease had a touchdown disallowed for a forward pass.

More good work by Jim Evans and Eyres got Paul Smith over for a try close to the posts and Watson's conversion, his 100th point of the season, reduced the arrears to just six points.

Against the run of play Fitzgerald chipped the Lions defence and re-gathered to send Matt Knowles in for a try from 40 metres out.

Swinton hit back on the hour when Watson got Eyres over for a try close to the posts, the scrum half's conversion taking the score to 26-22.

The Lions then hit the front when a good break by Henare saw Damian Cleary score close in. Watson's conversion plus a 70th minute drop goal gave Swinton the lead at 26-29.

Watson was wide with another drop goal attempt before very much against the run of play Chris Kelly kicked through to create a hat-trick try for Cooper by the posts with Fitzgerald's conversion bringing up the final scoreline.

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