Greg Edwards returned from a long term ankle injury to take his place in the starting line-up, but his bad luck continued as he was forced off the pitch with a shoulder injury in the first ten minutes with Matt Tyers taking his place.

Rochdale had already taken an early lead thanks to a penalty from winger Oli Coldman, with a similar effort from Zac Southern just short.

Coldman then got the first try of the game following an interception just inside the West half, and worse was to come  when skipper Dan Boatman was yellow carded on the half hour.

Coldman stepped up to make it 11-0, and the home side went further ahead before the break when scrum half Tom Serridge went over in the corner to give his side a 16-0 lead at the break.

West’s lineout wasn’t functioning well, and it continued to be our downfall in the second half when Greg was forced to return in place of the injured Scott Butcher. Joe Rafferty coming on for Jordfan Baggs

We made a strong start opting to run three penalties in a row instead of going for the points. None of the attacks came to anything and Rochdale delivered the sucker punch when they scored on their first attack of the second – powerful prop Oli Saparamadu forcing his way over.

We came back with a sustained spell of pressure including an excellent catch and drive, which was just held up, followed by a break through the middle by Zac, but Rochdale were able to clear at the breakdown.

However, the try did eventually come. We took a quick penalty on the half way line with Ryan Painter outpacing the defence to go in at the corner to set up a difficult conversion for Zac -  which he completed in some style.

Rochdale were still looking for a try bonus point. Luke Mallinson thwarted them with superb try saving tackle but we couldn’t stop full back Jamie Flitcroft from going over after the ball was moved wide from a quick taken penalty.

Coldman’s conversion wrapped up the scoring.

Rochdale: Jim Flitcroft, Oli Coldman, Josh Schofield, Wynard van Zyl, Ric West, Rob Neave, Dom Serridge, Tom Callaghan, Dan Philbin, Dale Slamon, Rob Birtwell, Sean Needham, Mike Bradwell, Danny Whithead, Andy Donoghue

Reps all used: Oli Saparamadu, T Hindle, Jon Mair

Tries: Coldman, Serridge, Saparamadu, Flitcroft.

Cons: Coldman,

Pens: Coldman (2)

West: Luke Mallinson, Scott Butcher, Greg Edwards, Peter Youll, Kyle Jamieson, Zac Southern, Ryan Painter, Ross Wood, Andrew Rollins, Adam Coates, Jay Corbett, Chris Atkins, Jordan Baggs, Dan Boatman, Sam Miller. Reps all used: Matt Tyers, Joe Rafferty, Michael Hogan

Yellow: Dan Boatman.

Tries: Painter.

Cons: Southern