Swinton move off the bottom of Championship with win over Rochdale
Swinton moved off the bottom of the Championship table with a 38-12 win over nearest rivals Rochdale at the Summer Bash in Blackpool.
Winless all season and with just two draws to their name, the Lions dismantled the Hornets in the second half to win by the 20 points they needed to leapfrog their opponents in the table.
Josh Woods led them around the park with a masterful performance at stand-off as they converted a 12-6 half-time advantage in to what was in the end a comprehensive victory.
Swinton led inside 10 minutes when Luke Waterworth dived over from dummy half, but a mistake by Jack Hansen from the kick-off enabled Rochdale to hit back immediately through Richard Lepori in the corner.
It was a dour first half in truth, but the Lions would take a lead in to the interval when powerful centre George Tyson shrugged off a couple of defenders to power over the line.
And, cheered on by their vocal supporters behind the end they were attacking, the Lions would light up Bloomfield Road in the second half to blow away the Hornets.
Four minutes in to the second half, Josh Barlow took the ball close to the line and offloaded out the back door for Will Hope to score their third try.
From the restart, a superb 40/20 from Woods set up more field position and after Rhodri Lloyd went close, Tyson burrowed his way over from dummy half for back-to-back tries and put the Lions 24-6 in front.
The Lions were very much in the ascendancy and off the next set, they forced a drop out when Lepori claimed Woods’ high kick and was trapped in-goal.
Gabe Fell was held up over the line as Swinton looked for a fifth try, before at the other end Deon Cross spilled a sharp pass with the line at his mercy.
That triggered a brief spell of Rochdale pressure, Tyler Whittaker dancing his way through only to be held up just short of the line by Tyson.
From that play the ball, Danny Yates’ kick was fielded by Liam Paisley, on loan from Wigan, and he went the full length of the field, only to be held up agonisingly short of the try line by Lepori.
It mattered not though, as from the play the ball, Swinton moved it left and took advantage of a disjointed defensive line to score through Woods.
Chris Hankinson, whose goalkicking proved costly in the draw at home to Barrow last week, curled round a lovely touchline conversion in what was a flawless performance from him with the boot.
Swinton were relentless and they added another try on the hour mark, Tyson going close on the left before the ball was moved right and Jack Hansen’s offload enabled Paisley to crash over from close range.
Needing to win by more than 20 points to move off the bottom, Hankinson tagged on a penalty to move Swinton 38-6 in front on 67 minutes after a penalty was conceded for a tip-tackle on Tyson.
Rochdale rallied late on, first having a try ruled out by the video referee, before Jonah Cunningham found his way over from dummy half for what would prove to be the final score of the encounter.
The Championship’s bottom two do it again next week at Heywood Road.
Rochdale: Kay, Lepori, Hurst, Cross, Massam, Whittaker, Yates, Taira, Brickhill, Hatton, Talatoka, Mitchell, Allen. Subs: Cunningham, Moran, Hadden, Syme.
Swinton: Fell, Butt, Hankinson, Tyson, Bergal, Woods, J Hansen, Bracek, Waterworth, Austin, Lloyd, Paisley, Hope. Subs: Barlow, H Hansen, Thornley, Billsborough.