Gary Thornton reflects on 'professional' win over Cornwall

Rochdale Hornets Head Coach Gary Thornton praised a ‘professional’ performance as his side beat Cornwall 62-6 at the Crown Oil Arena.

Hornets crossed for 11 tries in the Greater Manchester sunshine, to win a third consecutive match and move fifth in the League One table.

Rochdale led 34-0 at the break after tries from Lewis Else, Jack Arnold, Lewis Peachey, Aaron Smith, Dave Hewitt and Cian Tyrer.

Toby Brannan went over for the first points of the second half, before Umyla Hanley, Joe Purcell, Else and Ben O’Keefe all scored in the space of seven minutes to take Hornets over 60 points.

Speaking on the victory, Thornton said: “It was just a very good and professional team performance. It could have been easy for us to go away from the plan, but I’m delighted with the score and the fact we managed to get over for a lot of tries.”

Despite conceding a consolation try four minutes from the end, Thornton was pleased overall with his side’s defensive effort: “Cornwall have caused a few teams problems this season so to keep them scoreless for 77 minutes, and to restrict them to one score, was a good effort.

“It’s always difficult against teams like Cornwall, who probably don’t have the same defensive shape as other teams, which means it’s about taking the right options. I thought we done that for 75% of the game until we tired and went away from that.”

Hornet claimed two points for the third time this month in front of a vocal crowd inside the Crown Oil Arena, and Thornton believes momentum will be a crucial factor heading into a difficult run of fixtures.

He said: “We needed those wins after a tough start to the season. We have a difficult period coming up but it’s always important to get some consistency and some good wins under your belt.

“Last week was a real solid performance from us. London threw everything at us in that second half, but we stayed resilient and managed to win the game. We could have lost that game quite easily but the togetherness we showed was excellent and we backed that up today.”

Rochdale travel to Hunslet next weekend, with the Yorkshire side sitting two points ahead of Hornets in the table.

Thornton understands the toughness of the challenge ahead, however, he believes recent results will send Hornets to the South Leeds Stadium in high spirits: “We’re on the up now, and the confidence we have will be key ahead of a tough test.

“Hunslet have spent a lot of money, on a lot of signings, so we know it will be a tough afternoon. However, three back-to-back wins will send us there with a lot of belief.”

Tickets for our fixture with Hunslet can be purchased via the link here.

Please remember, the match will kick off at 1pm due to Leeds United taking on Tottenham Hotspur at Elland Road.