De La Salle prove too strong for Oldham RU

Nick Hackman barges over for Oldham's only try

There were no complaints from the Oldham RUFC contingent after they were defeated 32-7 at De La Salle.

Oldham were a much-changed outfit again, but one good bit of news is that the second team had 25 players available last weekend, which is an indication that they are still a rugby club and not just a rugby team.

The hosts led 3-0 from an early penalty and Oldham had a setback when Ryan Pickles was unfortunate to receive 10 minutes in the bin when he was adjudged to have deliberately knocked on when making a tackle.

Oldham's misery was compounded almost immediately when De La Salle created space out wide to touch down near the posts to increase their lead to 10-0.

Oldham remained under real pressure for the rest of the opening half, and it was no real surprise when they conceded another penalty and a converted try and the score at half-time was 20-0.

This had been the toughest half of rugby so far this year.

De La Salle were good, but Oldham looked particularly out of sorts and could not retain the ball for longer than a couple of phases.

After another converted try from the hosts, Oldham's efforts were finally rewarded when Nick Hackman barged over and Alex Jobson’s conversion made the score 27-7.

De La Salle immediately scored an unconverted try in a rare visit to Oldham's 22, which just about summed up the visitors' afternoon.

Oldham pretty much dominated the rest of proceedings, unfortunately without further reward and the final score was 32-7.

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