Rossendale 14 Wirral 22

TWO men in the sin bin within the first 15 minutes proved crucial as understrength Rossendale went down at home in their final game of the season .

With both Leyton Taylor and Tom Earnshaw on the sidelines and the unavailability of captain and play-maker Jamie Albinson the visitors took full advantage and were 0-17 up at the interval through tries from Paul Lewis, capitalising on a weakened scrum ten metres out before plunging over the line, to be followed by Adam Sheldon - Craig Harvey, the outside half also slotting both conversions and adding a penalty for good measure.

At last Rossendale came to life. Taylor picked up at the back after a series of five metre scrums to cross close to the posts with Jordan Lord going in also from a five metre scrum after a series of penalties against Wirral had created good field position. Both tries were converted by Steve Nutt. Dale could have finished fourth but with Waterloo taking maximum points they had to settle for fifth spot.