ROUGHYEDS boss Sean Long praised his side’s resilience in the face of adversity, during the 30-6 win over Hunslet, writes Kasey Smith.
Having come under sustained pressure from Hunslet in the latter stages of the first half, the Parksiders struck back making it 10-6 in the 47th minute.
In the aftermath of Joe Law’s try, Danny Craven was sin-binned for his over-exuberant protestations – but despite being down to 12 men, it was Oldham who performed better during the ten minutes Craven was off as they scored twice in quick succession.
“It felt like an onslaught from them, but we kept turning them away,” said Long. “When we went down to 12 men, we ended up scoring a couple of tries as well.
“We simplified the game-plan when we were a man down. We’ve worked heavily on not dropping our heads or getting frustrated when things don’t go our way.
“You never want to see your players going off, but the reaction to the sin-binning was great to see because everybody stuck together.”
Roughyeds notched another six tries, three of which came from top try scorer Cian Tyrer.
But Long was more impressed with the defensive effort and struggled to single out anybody in particular, instead opting to praise the collective.
“It was a good team performance, in what was a good physical battle and just what we needed,” he said.
“We didn’t expect anything less from Hunslet because they’re a good, dogged side who play for the full 80 minutes.
“I can’t fault our forwards because they laid the platform for us and got us on the front foot.
“I was most pleased with our defence, though, and the way we kept turning them away.”
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