BLACKBURN and Rossendale sealed safe passage in to the fourth round of the National EDF Senior Vase Competition with contrasting victories.

For while Blackburn sealed a narrow 13-7 win in a thrilling encounter at Wilmslow, Rossendale ran in five tries in a 39-6 win against Hoylake.

Blackburn travelled to Wilmslow for a clash between two previously unbeaten sides and both sides threw everything at each other for 80 minutes.

Wilmslow opened the scoring with a converted try before a Paul Bleasdale penalty cut the gap to 7-3 at the break.

Early in the second half, Blackburn carved out a try as good as any they will score all season.

After some fine forward play, prop Ali Reay spun out of a tackle before offloading a pass to hooker Millea. Bleasdale, Radice and Pearson combined to cleverly put Jarrold through a gap in midfield whose perfect pass put full back Barnes in at the corner.

Then following a period of sustained pressure, Bleasdale burrowed over to score and in the closing 10 minutes, Blackburn's excellent defence held firm to keep Wilmslow at bay.

In contrast, Rossendale also booked their place in the next round of the competition with a fine 39-6 victory over Hoylake.

Dale ran in five tries with captain Danny Collins, Jon Greenwood, Duncan Horrocks, Dan Fenn and Johan Goosen all crossing the line while Shaun Stirrup kick four conversions and a penalty.