Morpeth 12 – 22 Cleckheaton

Cleckheaton made the long haul up to Northumberland to face Morpeth and came away with another bonus point win, extending their unbeaten run to 5 games.
A dry, sunny day greeted the Spen Valley men but the conditions concealed a deceptive wind that blew into the faces of Cleckheaton as they played up the hill in the first half.  Cleck’s forwards were to be dominant all afternoon, Mark Sergeant making a nuisance of himself whenever Morpeth had the ball and Ryan Piercy leading a stonewall defence.  Added to this, the front three of Furniss, Worsley and Andy Piper were able to apply the pressure to their counterparts and took a number of scrums against the head. Cleck’s superiority in the pack provided dividends after just 5 minutes when Dave Freeman, once again providing guaranteed line out possession, set up a maul which allowed the ball to be rumbled up field, before a quick pass gave Ross Hayden enough space to make a 40 yard break towards Morpeth’s line.  The ball was quickly recycled and Matt Piper dived in for Cleck’s opening score.
Cleckheaton’s 5 point lead was cut short a few minutes later when ‘hands in the ruck’ allowed Morpeth’s full back and most dangerous player, Matty Jinks, to reduce the arrears with a penalty. Cleckheaton then lost promising young wingman James Wilson, to what would later be confirmed to be a broken leg and to make things worse, went behind in the match following a long range penalty from Jinks.  
The Moorenders were now conceding too many penalties. This allowed Morpeth to use the wind to clear their lines and despite the strong running of Mitch Ashworth, returning the ball with interest, the home side was ultimately able to gain further advantage on the scoreboard.  Two more successful kicks from Jinks in the final 10 minutes of the half put Morpeth 12 – 5 ahead at the turn-around.
Cleckheaton started the 2nd period with the wind at their backs and the stern words of coach Dave Harrison, ringing in their ears. The half-time lecture had the desired effect as Cleck eradicated the foul play that had kept Morpeth in the game and put in a workman like performance to secure the points. Johnno Marshall was first to score when Morpeth’s line out ball was disrupted and quick hands from Ollie Depledge and Iain Gordon sent Pete Murphy slicing through the defence. The player-coach found Marshall in support to reduce the arrears to 2 points.
Simon Quinn now joined the fray from the bench, replacing Carl Mason and was quickly thrust into the action when he tidied up a Morpeth line-out ball, which had been overthrown by the homeside’s hooker. Cleck’s backs took the ball to Morpeth and a succession of quick rucks gave Danny Furniss, Steve Worsley and Freeman the opportunity to gain valuable metres before the ball was passed to Matt Piper, who crossed for his second of the afternoon. Matt’s brother and skipper, Richard Piper, completed Cleckheaton’s try scoring with his now almost customary score from the back of a maul, following a solid catch and drive.
This was a fine team performance for this rapidly improving side, who looked resplendent in new club shirt and tie after the game and gave reason for the small but passionate supporting contingent to feel rightly proud.