Injuries and absences take a toll on Oldham

Oldham RU firsts Cameron Wood v Carlisle 5-11-16

Carlisle 30, Oldham 15

OLDHAM Rugby Union Club firsts suffered defeat in their final trek to Cumbria before Christmas, suffering a painful reverse to Carlisle that brought with it further injury concerns.

Tight head Neil Oldham was out with a broken hand and with Jake Watson and scrum half Will Mellor unable to travel, the visitors at least had a full line-up with three substitutes as Jack Taylor returned to first-team duty.

In-form Carlisle started strongly and after Oldham had failed to deal with the kick-off, an early penalty from in front of the posts gave the hosts a 3-0 lead.

BROKEN

Tight head Dean McEwan was forced to leave the field with another case of a broken hand, meaning Jack Sayle played virtually a full game, and after conceding penalties for high shots Oldham fell behind further through two tries.

The first came from a well-worked set piece move at the front of the line-out, resulting in the captain going in at the corner, with the second, which was converted, arriving underneath the uprights from the outside centre.

Callum Megram kicked a penalty, but Carlisle's 15-3 lead came with the visitors barely seeing the ball in the first quarter-hour.

A pushover try followed soon after and though Oldham responded, turning down shots at goal to try to breach the line, at half-time the score was 20-3.

The second half was an even affair.

Oldham lost loose head Bobby Cullen to a head injury and McEwan bravely returned to the field with his broken hand strapped up, but he had to leave shortly after and the scrums went uncontested.

Carlisle scored two further tries to lead 30-3 but Oldham, whose man of the match was captain Gareth Barber, kept playing right to the end.

Ryan Arundale couldn't hold on to a difficult ball with the line at his mercy and just as it looked as if Oldham wouldn't score further, a break by Watson was carried on by Megram.

The defence opened up for Jobson to score beneath the posts and Megram added the conversion to make it 30-10.

Shortly after, Charlie Roscoe made a break on his own 22 and outpaced a determined chase to score a super individual try.