A MUCH-CHANGED Wirral side visited Rossendale and came away with a heavy 28-7 defeat.

Wirral had the advantage of the slope in the first half and worked hard to make progress and were aided by a number of penalties in their favour.

However, in the first half it was notable backs play that gave Rossendale their first try which was converted.

Wirral continued to play their game and had pressure on the Rossendale line with a try prevented by Rossendale dragging down the scrum, resulting in the No 8 being sin binned.

With the reduced numbers in the scrum, Wirral forced their way over with prop, Joe Adnams again scoring and a conversion from Rhys James.

In the second half, Rossendale were keen to take the lead with two penalties to edge out 13-7.

The Rossendale backs then played their part in the remainder of the half to score three more tries and thus gain the vital try bonus point to keep themselves at the head of the table.

Wirral continued to work hard and were disappointed that their efforts close to the Rossendale line did not enable them to score again in the second half.

Next week Wirral have another tense game against fourth placed Blackburn who lead Wirral on points difference, with a 2.15pm kick off.