Wheatley Hills 16 - 15 Cleckheaton

Cleckheaton went down to their second close defeat of the season following a feisty contest at a sunny Wheatley Hills.

An early penalty set the tone for the match following over robust play by Wheatley Hills at a ruck. Cleckheaton’s stand off Iain Gordon kicked the penalty to put three points on the scoreboard for the visitors.

In the eighth minute Wheatley took the lead when veteran Dave Scully went over for a try which was converted by centre Townsley. Cleckheaton continued with their tactic of playing a more expansive game against a heavier opposition and moved the ball wide wherever possible. However, the side found themselves regularly unstuck at the breakdown due to the inability to retain or prevent the opposition from disrupting the ball at the back of the ruck. This put increasing pressure on young scrum half Oli Depledge to get quality ball away to the three quarters.

The game was physical but the visitors were up for the challenge and after 30 minutes their efforts were finally rewarded when, following some neat interplay, Cleckheaton found themselves in strong position with a line-out 10 metres from Hills' line. From the resulting catch and drive, No 8 Simon Quinn on debut, went in for Cleckheaton's first try. The conversion was narrowly missed by Gordon.

Although Townsley extended Wheatley's lead with a penalty a few minutes later the visitors were soon back on the attack following a bone jarring tackle from captain Paul Turner, who was constantly in the thick of the action. This allowed Richard Piper to turn over the ball just on Wheatley’s 22 metre line from where scrum half Depledge neatly moved the ball directly to centre Pete Murphy. The No. 12, set off on a jinking run beating three defenders before off loading the ball to one of Cleckheaton’s many up-and-coming players James Wilson, who showed enough pace to beat the full back to score at the side of the sticks. Iain Gordon duly converted putting the visitors 10-15 up at half time.

The second half proved to be one of great frustration for the visitors when Wheatley Hills, time and again, resorted to the huge boot of their full back to keep Cleckheaton well away from their danger zone.

Even with the numerical advantage following the 10 minute sin binning of Wheatley’s No 9 after a blatant act of foul play, Cleckheaton continued to frustrate themselves and their travelling supporters by overplaying when a simple more direct course of action might have served them better.

Both sides continued to work hard for territory but in the end Townsley was able to nose the home side in front with two further penalties. This won the day for Wheatley who remain unbeaten in a very competitive league.

Mark Sargeant came on at 52 minutes and impressed, staking a claim for a first team shirt when Cleckheaton face Driffield at home in round three.

After the match there were stern words from Cleckheaton coach David Harrison about the realities of rugby at this level. Whilst he assured the players they had the personnel and abilities to win games it means the team will need to knuckle down and be a bit more streetwise in their future outings in North East 2.