Rochdale 33

TRAFFORD welcomed visitors Rochdale to MacPherson Park on a bright but windy April afternoon.

Opponents to be Ashton-Under-Lyne were obliged to play a rearranged League fixture and Rochdale were late replacements.

MV went behind to an early Rochdale try as some of the players were still waking to their task, as the adrenalin began to flow the Trafford pack gradually got to grips with the job in hand to give the Rochdale forwards something to think about MV's hard work was justly rewarded as the keen openside used his wing like pace to steal over after a determined burst broke the first line of defence.

Worrall kicked the simple conversion from beside the posts to give MV the interval lead 7-5.

The North Manchester side began moving the ball wide and the tiring MV cover found it difficult to defend against the speed and guile of the opposition lack line - some excellent crowd thrilling scores resulted.

Traffords only reward for their second half efforts was yet another try for the surprise of the season, the fleet footed Henderson, who, from an almost standing start, whipped outside his marker to sprint an incredible, for him, 20 yards before squeezing outside the full back to score in the corner.

The angle proved too tight for Worrall, who had another fine game.

Despite this being a "friendly" their was no quarter given and both sides enjoyed good physical encounter.

The final whistle proved ultimately to be music to the ears of the Trafford XV who were now looking forward to a nice quiet evenings relaxation after the exertions of the previous night and day!

The second and third XV's also suffered from this post dinner hangover and added to the 1st XV's misery with 20-18 and 10-24 defeats respectively.

This weekend Trafford travel to Ormskirk in their final League fixture of the season.

Trafford won their home game, back in November, 20-15, however 5 months is a long time and this weeks game will prove to be important for both sides to finish with a credible League position.

Trafford will have Andy Hope returning from a leg injury and Darren Hyde back at stand off with Mike Worrall returning to his favoured full back role.

At home will be the 2nd XV - kick off will be at 3pm.

Trafford MV would like to thank all their members and guests for attending their Annual Dinner, especially Sale Rugby Clubs Steve Diamond, the speaker who all helped to make the evening a huge success.

Converted for the new archive on 13 March 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.