Old Brodleians 7 - 17 Cleckheaton

A reasonably large crowd turned out at a bracing Hipperholme for Cleckheaton's traditional Boxing Day derby against Old Brodleians. Cleckheaton played down the hill at Woodhead Park in the 1st half. The renowned slope offers an advantage on any occasion but but even more so with the belly over full of turkey, spouts and christmas pudding.

Opening exchanges were fairly tight until Old Brods squandered an early chance, as it turned out their only chance of the half, when the final pass was dropped with a clear run to the line.

Cleckheaton's first points came after an excellent touch finding kick by Iain Gordon, from a penalty in mid-field, gave the visitors a line-out 15m out. A good catch and set allowed Cleck's backs to execute a planned move which put Matt Piper in on the right hand side. The conversion was narrowly missed.

Ten minutes later a scrum on Old Brods' 22 saw Richard Piper pick and go blind, he off-loaded to Jack Bickerdike in the tackle and the wily scrum half showed the ball to winger James Wilson, before putting on the gas to ghost through the defence for a well taken try. Iain Gordon added the conversion. At this point 17 year old Josh White was introduced to the fray, making his 1st XV debut.

Cleckheaton's third try came following a scrum 40 metres out. Jack Bickerdike and Iain Gordon played a run around move, swapping passes, before Bickerdike dummied to his centres and then scythed through the defence showing great pace before releasing Ross Hayden on the right wing to go in, in the corner. Gordon's touchline conversion into the wind teased the Cleckheaton faithful but ultimately hit the bar. At the interval the score was 17-0 to the visitors.

Cleck started the second period brightly, Jack Bickerdike sealed his bid for Man of the Match with a 50m break up the blindside but unfortunately the ball was spilled a couple of passes later when a score looked imminent.

With Cleckheaton playing up the hill and the pitch being fairly boggy, it was difficult for the visitors to make ground in the 2nd half. A combination of Cleck's foul play and the Christmas spirit of the referee, gift wrapped several penalties in a row for Old Brods placing Cleckheaton under a prolonged spell of pressure. A further infringement saw James Marshall get ten minutes in the bin and during that time Brods raced in for a try under the posts. The conversion brought the score to 17-7 and the scoreboard would not be troubled further in the remaining 10 minutes of the game.

This was a good run out for Cleckheaton against a reasonably young but committed Old Brods side. With the Fred Scott trophy safely secured in the display cabinet, Cleckheaton will look forward to their next local derby against Old Crossleyans at Moorend on 5th January when North 1 East league action resumes after the Christmas break.