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Both Foreman brothers were in the thick of the action with Andrew's two first half tries giving us the upper hand in the opening period but Rossendale bounced back straight after the restart, scoring two tries in quick succession to lead for most of the second forty.

And they may well have taken all the points back across the M62 had they not turned down a very kickable penalty in the dying minutes, bizarrely opting for a kick to the corner and losing the resulting lineout to a not-straight throw.

The visitors had the early pressure but we took the lead after 13 minutes when Andrew Foreman made a typical break from the base of a scrum inside the Dale half. Getting outside the covering defenders the scrum-half showed his pace for a fine individual score in the right corner.

Will Sharratt pegged three points back for the visitors 2 minutes later, using the strong wind at his back to good effect with a shot from over 40 metres out. Despite the lively nature of the game it took until the 32nd minute for another real scoring opportunity - Sharratt this time missing his shot at goal to the left.

As we entered first-half injury time Rossendale found themselves defending within their own 22 and when referee Dean Walker adjudged Johan Goosen had gone off his feet to prevent West winning a turnover 5 metres out the flanker was despatched to the sin-bin for 10 minutes. We took full advantage with Foreman's second try coming from much closer range, as he wrestled his way over from just a few metres. The wind was making kicking difficult and Waites pushed his conversion across the front of the posts.

We deserved our 10-3 half time lead but it wouldn't last for long as Rossendale made the perfect start the second half. After just 5 minutes centre Wynard Van Zyl side-stepped his way past a few tacklers to score and just two minutes later we failed to deal with an awkward bounce from a clearing kick and Dale were able to hack through and win the foot-race, Tom Albinson touching down despite a terrific last-ditch tackle attempt from Andrew Foreman. Sharatt converted both tries from close range and we were left shell-shocked at the speed of the 14 point turnaround.

Rossendale kept up the pressure but we weathered the storm with some sterling defensive work and eventually, as the final quarter of the game began, gained some momentum of our own. With Waites injured early in the half it was left to Gareth Foreman to slot a straight penalty on 26 minutes to reduce the arrears to a single score and when a string of penalties led to a yellow card for Andrew Dauncey we once again took our opportunity. Standing in at scrum-half Gareth Foreman appeared to be directing his forwards as the ball was slowly recycled from a ruck but, seeing a gap, he darted through himself and stretched well for the line to touch down. The missed conversion left us with a nail-biting finish but we held on, thanks, in part, to that strange decision not to attempt a potentially game winning kick at goal.

West: Waites (Thomas), Butcher, Watson, Robinson, A Cheslin, G Foreman, A Foreman, Carr (Norris), A Dixon, Coates, Davies, T Dixon, D Boatman, Taylor, Stockdale (Atkins).

Tries: A Foreman 2, G Foreman
Pen: G Foreman

Rossendale: Dennison, Harper, Van Zyl, T Albinson, Harrison, Sharratt, J Albinson, Greenhaigh, Keys, Taylor, Fourie, Eddlestone, Goosen, Dauncey, Collins.
Reps: Marshall, Bell, Barnford.

Tries: Van Zyl, T Albinson
Cons: Sharratt 2
Pen: Sharratt

Yellow Cards: Goosen, Dauncey

Referee: Dean Walker [Northern Group]