ROSSENDALE new boys Varne Van Zyl and Will Sharratt sealed a narrow victory as they got their National League Three North campaign up and running.

On a very wet Rossendale afternoon both sides tried gamely to produce any highlights.

The valley side used the slope advantage to give them a narrow lead with a penalty from young debutant fly half Sharratt during the opening forays.

The steady drizzle became heavier as Dale went further in front when another debutant outside centre Van Zyl, signed from Rochdale in the summer, swept onto a deft popped pass to slide under the posts to the delight of the home following. Sharratt again converted and then for some reason was asked to retake the kick but nevertheless the result was the same 10-0.

The game stagnated somewhat with neither side capable of bringing any fluency to proceedings.

The turnaround brought little change however the visitors got back into the contest with a disputed try.

A kick and chase saw Dale full back, Roger Dennison, clearly impeded and as a result Waterloo seized on the loose ball to score a converted try to make it 10-7.

Despite going down to 14 men when number eight Danny Collins was sin binned, Dale dug in and held Waterloo at bay.

Their next scoring opportunity saw Sharrattt attempt a speculative penalty attempt from 40 meters but it fell narrowly short but was followed shortly after by a crucial try when Dale’s scrum half Jamie Albinson out-foxing the visitors rearguard with a lovely dummy, to create half a gap to go over and score. 15-7.

Waterloo response was all too late with their converted try being in the last minute of the match. Although there weren’t many highlights on a dreary afternoon one bright spot for the club was the emergence of youngsters Sharratt (17) and his fellow colt Tom Bedlow (18) who joined him from the bench at half time.

This weekend Rossendale travel to the North East to take on West Hartlepool.