Cleckheaton RUFC U9’s played at Sandal Rugby Festival and came up against Old Brods, Littleborough, Sheffield Tigers, Castleford and Barnsley.
In the first game after being under pressure for a few minutes, Thomas Kings’s ferocious tackling and a couple of breakaway tries, one being from Sam Booth led Cleckheaton to win 3 tries to nil.
In the second game, Cleckheaton were slow out of the blocks allowing Littleborough an early try. To their credit, Cleckheaton fought back with resilience. Crunching tackles from Declan Wilson and some fantastic touchline hugging tries from William Wilkinson gave Cleckheaton the win 3 tries to 1.
Sheffield Tigers were the next opposition and Cleckheaton did not allow them through. With some fantastic runs by William ‘Billy Whiz’ Carden and a superb overall performance by Samuel Jackson gave Cleckheaton a comfortable win 3 tries to nil.
Cleckheaton versus Castleford was a closer affair with Castleford matching Cleckheaton in their attacking flair and direct approach. However, Cleckheaton’s defence was superb and with a mesmerising try by Mackenzie Sheldrake meant Cleckheaton were the victors 2 tries to nil.
It was clear in the final game against Barnsley, that Cleckheaton had given their all. Barnsley got the upper hand initially but once again Cleckheaton fought back with William Nicholson’s defence busting try providing Cleckheaton with a well-earned victory 4 tries to 2.
Overall an excellent day for Cleckheaton U9’s.