24 - 22

18/02/2012 (League)

East welcomed back half-back Matt King from injury in a clash against Rochdale Mayfield. It was a Rochdale side that had only one recognised face from the previous two encounters between the sides and East almost scored with the first attacking play of the game. However, it was the visitors from Rochdale who opened the scoring with the East defence giving away cheap penalties and failing to make one-on-one tackles, with Rochdale going in at the corner. The try was converted to make the score 0 - 6.

East looked to get back into the game and again pressed the Rochdale line, but couldn't find the final ball. Rochdale made East pay for some more sloppy defending, scoring another two unanswered tries before half time with East again spurning the opportunity to get on the board. The half time score was 16 - 0 to the visitors.

Some words of encouragement from the coaching staff paid dividends as with the first attacking play of the second half with Simon Reynard going in for the try. Matt King converted from the touchline to give East hope of a comeback. The East forwards led by Lee Rowley kept up with the hard graft, allowing the back some room to play. It was two more backs (Ryan Hughes and Ryan Lewis) who scored the next tries - again converted from the touchline by Matt King to give East the lead at 18 - 16 with 15 minutes remaining.

Rochdale started to come back at East, and almost went in a couple of times but resolute defence from East held them at bay. Under another period of pressure from Rochdale, East were bringing the ball out from their line when they gave away another silly penalty - this time for shouting at the referee. Rochdale scored from the penalty, and converted the try to put them in the driving seat for the final 7 minutes.

East came out firing though and forced a turn-over in the Rochdale half. It was again pressure down the right hand side that paid off, with Simon Reynard cutting back in and putting Iain McCulloch in under the sticks, levelling the scores. Damon Fishwick held his nerve and slotted the conversion between the sticks. East got the ball back from the kick-off and played out the final set of six to hold on for the victory. Final score 24 - 22.