ALTRINCHAM Kersal's men's first XV lost 12-7 on the road at a rain-soaked Rochdale against their fellow North One West strugglers.

It was an even first half between 11th-placed Kersal and second-bottom Dale with neither team able to get a foothold in the game and the difficult conditions meant it was scoreless at the halfway point. 

The second half saw an early break from Dale who squeezed in the first try of the game, somewhat against the run of play, though the conversion fell short of the posts.

Kersal picked up the pace, rallied by captain Nathan Bailey and vice captain Steve Richardson, and a driving maul from the pack pushed them forward to allow Jack Emerson to drop over the whitewash to score.

He followed up with a perfect conversion to nudge Kersal into a 7-5 lead.

After that it was scrappy again with too many mishandled passes from both sides.

But with eight minutes remaining, the hosts overturned the deficit and scored a runaway try and follow it up with a conversion to make it 12-7.

The seconds faced a stern test at home against a University of Liverpool Vets firsts side riding high near the top of the league.

The visitors were too strong early on and raced into a 14-0 lead but Kersal kept going and scored tries either side of half time.

The first was a driving maul on the left-hand side of the pitch demonstrating good teamwork, Micah Dyos finally putting ball to ground over the whitewash.

The second was a move through the centres with Doug Whyley making the break and feeding Sean Clayton on his shoulder to cross the line, however only one conversion was successful.

It was even for a while with Kersal hooker and captain Andy Thomas setting the standards with his excellent throws and good routines amongst the rest of the pack keeping the opposition guessing.

Chris Weighell from second row made some excellent carries, gaining momentum for his colleagues as he repeatedly broke through tackles with good technique.

Cheshire Under-20s' captain George Wise showed intelligent play to keep on the shoulder of the carrier and ensure the ball was recycled at the breakdown.

But in the last quarter it seemed the University lads had more to give, the heavy pitch having a significant effect.

And they ran in four more tries to seal a 34-12 triumph, although the difference in the scoreline did not do justice for the effort shown by the home side.

To complete a disappointing weekend, the Kersal ladies lost 24-0 at Doncaster Demons.