Jobson shines in Oldham defeat

Oldham RUFC were beaten 26-18 at Hoylake.

Despite some players only arriving at the ground 20 minutes before kick-off due to travel issues, it was Oldham who started brightest.

The visitors notched a penalty and then a try by Alex Jobson to go 8-0 up.

Oldham then let Hoylake back in with a penalty after giving them the ball straight back from the kick off.

Oldham then began to give a number of penalties away which led to a converted Hoylake try, and they took the lead at 10-8.

After this Oldham lost Andy Joy to a yellow card after further Hoylake pressure.

Oldham continually tackled far too high and attempted to lock the ball up.

This did not help the cause and a number of penalties at the breakdown for infringements followed.

Against the run of play following a scrum on their 10 metre line, Oldham hit back with a great move from the backs with Stuart Brennan and Tom Davies combining to send Jobson over for his second, which he converted made it 15-10 at half time.

Hoylake answered first with a penalty after the break.

Oldham saw some ball which lead to decent pressure allowing Jobson to answer back with a penalty to make it 18-13 in Oldham’s favour.

Another Hoylake penalty when Oldham couldn’t clear their lines took it to 18-16, with Oldham tiring and giving penalty after penalty away.

Two key moments then followed.

Oldham made ground and with the line begging the final pass did not stick which would have seen a try under the posts.

Hoylake then worked up the pitch for their stand-off to chip over and collect it to score under Oldham’s posts, and he converted to make it 23-18.

Oldham then lost Jobson to the sin-bin after stopping a quick penalty with Hoylake on the Oldham line, which was then kicked to make it 26-18.

Oldham finally managed to keep some ball and made inroads towards the Hoylake defence.

With only minutes left Oldham had a number of penalties on the Hoylake line.

With a try bonus point and losing bonus point possible Oldham went for the try, but could not get over despite numerous efforts.

It was a very disappointing end for Oldham to what should have been a victory.

Oldham’s normal workmanlike forward play was not on par at the ruck or the lineout, while offside and ruck infringements hampered the team all day.

Two bad injuries also left a bad feeling for Oldham with Arjun Mistry and Brennan both sustaining knee ligament injuries - they could be out for some time.

One pleasing aspect was the debuts for colts Sam Rowell and Kian Schofield who battled well on the wing both in attack and defence.

MOM was given to Jobson, who defended exceptionally well and scored all of Oldham’s points

Oldham have now lost three on the bounce that they should have won.

It is only four games into the season, but with Oldham’s knack of snatching defeat from the jaws of victory, it could be a long season.

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