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Wakefield Wildcats 46 Oldham Roughyeds 4

Keith Potter
4/ 6/2008

ALTHOUGH the Roughyeds were beaten in this Carnegie Challenge Cup quarter-final, they did not let themselves down and produced a gutsy performance full of dogged defence right until the end.

The opening 10 minutes saw a thoroughly outmuscled Oldham under terrific pressure from Wakefield’s massive pack and forced into consecutive goal-line drop-outs.

It was to their credit then that they forced repeated errors from the home side, although they were not helped when debutant Ben Seru went off with a knee injury after he was picked up and dumped over the line by Richard Moore despite the tackle having been completed.

With Oldham defending furiously, they put their limited possession to good use as quick hands from Richard Mervill and Rob Roberts sent Marcus St Hilaire through the cover before handing the ball to Seru, only for play to be brought back for a marginal forward pass.

The Oldham fans did not have long to wait though as, following a fumbled pass by the hosts, Lucas Onyango collected the ball and sprinted 60 metres to score wide out and give them a 4-0 lead.

Valiant defence continued to frustrate the Wildcats before Sam Obst’s diagonal run put Sean Gleeson in for the hosts’ first try, followed almost immediately by a score from Damien Blanch after Danny Brough’s pinpoint kick.

With two minutes to go before the break, a shock could have been on the cards but unfortunately for Oldham, Brough broke through a tired tackle to send Oliver Wilkes over before a contentious knock-on decision gave the hosts possession and saw Gleeson score his second try.

Leading 20-4 at the interval and with the home fans expecting the floodgates to open, it took Wakefield only five minutes to score again as Brad Drew forced his way over.

However, Oldham continued to defend doggedly as another bad decision from Wakefield referee Ben Thaler saw Jamie Rooney cross from Danny Sculthorpe’s forward pass.

As fatigue finally caught up with the Roughyeds, Brough, Rooney and Martin all added further tries for the home side.

While it might sound like sour grapes, it must be added that the referee did not give Oldham a fair crack of the whip, something which they surely deserved for their heroic defensive performance.