Roughyeds run rampant

Photo: PICTURES by PAUL STERRITT.

WELL DONE, LADS: Oldham men Steve Roper (left), Kenny Hughes and Lewis Palfrey celebrate a comprehensive victory.

IT wasn’t the first time they’ve “nilled” opponents with Scott Naylor in charge, nor was it their highest score, but this 64-0 rout of Oxford was the biggest winning margin recorded by Roughyeds in Naylor’s two and a half seasons at Whitebank.

Twelve tries narrowly failed to create a second Naylor record, but they equalled the dozen against Gloucester in a 68-24 win at Whitebank in September last year.

Back then only three of the 12 were scored by backs; this time it was seven, with left-wing Jack Holmes bagging a hat-trick, right-wing Adam Clay posting two more and his all-action centre George Tyson also going in for a couple of beauties.

Phil Joy, Adam Files, Gareth Owen, Liam Thompson and Kenny Hughes were in try scoring mode too as rampant Roughyeds recaptured the stunning form that thrilled fans when Newcastle Thunder were smashed 45-20 at Whitebank last month.

Injuries and suspensions hit Roughyeds hard after that and there followed rare back-to-back league defeats by Keighley and North Wales.

This, then, was a game Oldham had to win. More than that, they had to play well, score points and produce wow-factor attacking rugby to reinforce the notion that recent dips in form were no more than a blip.

Naylor’s men nailed it on all counts. Inevitably, some fans will question mid-table Oxford’s credentials for giving Oldham a meaningful challenge. But no one should get the idea that Oxford took a pew, sat back and admired Oldham’s expansive rugby without raising a finger in defence.

In fact they were big, tough, aggressive and willing to work desperately hard to repel a vastly

superior Oldham outfit that was camped in their half for nearly all the game.

Teamwork was key as Oldham went for the jugular. Give or take the odd forward pass near the ruck – a recurring fault – and Naylor’s men enjoyed high-percentage set completion, followed by much better end-of-set kicks.

In their frustration and ultimate fatigue, Oxford conceded a raft of penalties which merely added to their woes. In the last 20 minutes, when Roughyeds were hurtling down the hill, the Blues only touched the ball three times.

To have Owen and Tyson back after suspension was another bonus for Naylor in his efforts to get his side back on track.

While he was at pains afterwards to stress that this was all about the hard work and collective desire of a 17-man unit, he must surely have acknowledged privately that Owen, Tyson and Clay enjoyed absolute blinders.

It wasn’t difficult to see how Clay received his club’s internal man-of-the-match award, but Tyson and Owen must have been breathing down his neck.

In his 100th career outing, Lewis Palfrey won the toss and chose to play up the slope.

Adam Neal was off-loading superbly early on and it was from one such pass to close support that Owen had the vision to throw a perfectly-weighted pass to the right wing where Clay crossed in the corner.

Big Phil Joy then produced a sidestep that any winger would be proud to own to leave Jamie Milburn on the floor and to race over close by the posts.

As Oldham gained in confidence they started to throw the ball from wing to wing with the result that Holmes scored twice in the corner and Files went in from dummy half near the posts.

With Oldham leading 26-0 at half-time and set to play down the slope in the second half, Oxford braced themselves for another tough 40 minutes. And that’s exactly what they got.