Cleckheaton 15 - 13 Old Crossleyans

Cleckheaton returned to winning ways with a three tries to two victory, in a closely fought contest which was ultimately decided with a touch of brilliance from young scrum half Olly Depledge.

The home side began strongly and were pressing the visitors line immediately, in only the fifth minute Ed Chappelow was driven over the line by his pack following a clean line out take from Dave Freeman. Two minutes later the forwards once more secured possession in the Crossleyans’ 22 and the returning captain Rich Piper broke to feed hooker Worsely, who in turn drew the full back to send Olly Deplegde in for a cracking try, only for the play to be brought back as the referee had collided with Crocs scrum half James Wainwright and was unsighted.

Crossleyans stand off Chris Jones reduced the arrears in the twentieth minute with a penalty but Cleckheaton extended the lead five minutes before the break with a try which was unconverted. A break out of defence from Matt Piper was backed up by a strong run from firebrand winger Mitch Ashworth who took play to within 10m, the forwards were there in numbers to maintain the pressure and Rich Piper struck the blow on 38 mins. Half time came with the Moorenders 10 - 3 up.

Hoping to kick on and put the game out of reach, Cleck found themselves frustrated at both unforced handling errors and compounding penalties with backchat, which stern referee Simon Lazenby, used as a prompt march them back on several occasions. Crossleyans played well on this disruption and hit back strongly, unconverted tries from substitute Manny Riaz and second row Chris Wood gave the visitors a three point lead going into the last five minutes of the game.

Cleckheaton not quite at desperation point but definitely under pressure steeled themselves to raise the intensity, with player coach Pete Murphy directing play and field position at fly half due to the loss of Iain Gordon. From one probing kick Crossleyans looked to return well but from a tackle on half way Rich Piper was able to turn over possession and feed Olly Depledge who scorched up the touchline supported by flying wing Ross Hayden, the 2-on-1 was well executed and Hayden crossed wide out for his 10th try in as many games, the conversion was narrowly missed by Murphy. The final 6 minutes saw the home forwards control the ball well to close the game out.

Crossleyans played their part in another fine and exciting game of rugby and were unlucky to come away with only a bonus point. Cleck travel to the North East again next time out to face table toppers Percy Park and will have to improve their second half performance to come away with any points.