St Andrew’s vs Dale

The St Andrew’s College vs Dale College fixture in King William’s Town is never an easy fixture and this proved to be the case yet again for the College 1st XV, as Dale ran out 45-26 winners in a physical encounter on Saturday.

Whilst College were the first to score after a good set piece move, with Matt Royle finishing off, Dale bounced back quickly with a penalty try to level the scores fifteen minutes into the game.

Minutes later Dale took the lead for the first time with a try out wide, which was converted to go 14-7 in front.

After a good line-out by the College pack, and good continuity which left Dale exposed out wide, Ant More brought College level at 14-14 with just a couple of minutes left in the first half. A penalty conversion from out in front saw Dale go into the break 17-14 in front.

A poor kick-off after the half-time break saw Dale score immediately to put College onto the back foot, from which they never recovered. Great attacking at pace by Dale, along with some poor College defence saw Dale stretch their lead out to 38-14 before College got back into the game. A try each to Chris Poole and Guy Rushmere narrowed the gap to 38-26 before Dale had the last say to score and finish the game 45-26 winners.

By Stephen Penney