Against Horden they lost 27-17 but had the visitors under pressure for most of the last twenty minutes. A great driving run by David Burn set up James Rennison on the Horden line and he crossed over to score, with Sean Horden converting. Rhys Johnstone added a penalty to take Rockcliffs tally to 10 but Horden, inspired by Harry Cox, had a 17 point advantage through tries from Alex Robson, Jordan Yates and Craig Drummond and a conversion by Yates.
Horden notched further tries through Harry Cox and Davey Smith and Rockcliff were chasing the game and they kept Horden in their own half for ling opel but they were defending well against the strong running of Joe Smith and good counter attaching from Adam Richarson and Dan Shaw. Shaw eventually broke through to score under the posts, converted by Adam Ferreira.
Against a strong Sunderland side they lost 46-33 in a free running game. After conceding three tries for 15-0 Rockcliff responded when Matt Dunbar broke from the kick off return to score under the posts, converted by Rhys Johnstone. Sunderland came back with a further try and this inspired a good spell of pressure and Dan Atkinson, Joe Rennison and Joe Smith combined with a series of driving runs to put Smith over wide on the left. Rhys Johnstone scored a superb conversion for 20-14. As the effects of the Horden game took its toll on Rockcliffs legs Sunderland pulled away to 36-14 but Rockcliff kept in touch when Dan Atkinson scored for 36-19, and this was followed by a great chip and chase move by Rhys Wiley who scored an excellent try, converted by Johnstone, to close the gap to ten points. Sunderland almost had the final say with two late tries, but Matt Dunbar scored a late try, again converted by Johnstone to close the game.
Sunderlands scores came through Harry Lewison with 4 tries, Joe Arrowsmith, Guy Kingsley-Smith, and Matty Brown. Kingsley-Smith added a drop goal and Joe Lamb added four conversions. Sunderland player James Carroll was stretchered off with a back injury, and all at Rockcliff wish him a speedy recovery.
