Cleckheaton hit their straps in fine style and went on a 10-try romp to demolish Stockport in their National 3 North league match. The 62-0 win ranks amongst the highest scores Cleckheaton have posted in the last decade joining the 64-3 win over Old Crossleyans in March 2014 and the 72-7 away blitz at Darlington in March 2013, in the list of games where the club has won by over 60 points,. It was a tremendous performance from the team who played consistently well for the whole 80 minutes and just to emphasise that fact, 31 points were registered in each half.

Cleckheaton’s first try came via their forward power. A line out just inside Stockport’s 22 was caught cleanly following a strong lift by Paul Turner. An excellent drive ate up the ground at a speedy rate before Ryan Piercy forced his way over the whitewash. The next try followed 5 minutes later when Stockport failed to find touch from a penalty. The ball was speedily moved from one side of the pitch to the other, where Martin Woodhead stayed on his feet in the tackle and powered himself free of his defenders, to feed Fullback James Wilson. Ronan Evans converted the try. Josh Hall added to the back line’s tally when Wilson’s ball back on the inside set the winger on a 35m sprint to the sticks. Evans converting. Scrum half Neil Chivers, secured Cleckheaton’s bonus point with a scoot over from short range before flanker, Tom Austin, got Cleck’s 5th try of the half. Stockport opted to stand back from a line-out ball which Austin caught, hoping to trick Cleckheaton into conceding a truck and trailer penalty. The flanker spotted the tactic and with a ‘thank you very much’ did not present the ball to his pack, but instead tucked it under his arm and darted over on his own.

With a score of 31-0 at the interval the game was more or less in the bag. Two changes were made at the break to introduce the fresh legs of Niall Jackson in the front row for Andy Piper and Mark Heward took up the fray on the wing, replacing Josh Hall. The interesting test now would be whether Cleckheaton could keep up the pressure in attack and continue to defend as robustly as they had in the first half. This question was quickly answered when Luke Pearson leapt above Stockport’s pack from the kick off and regained the ball for Cleckheaton. The ball was quickly moved from the back of the ruck and Mark Chivers popped a very short pass to Skipper Richard Piper, who was running like a juggernaut going down a very steep hill with the brakes off. Despite a number of forlorn attempts to halt his momentum, he ploughed a furrow from just inside Stockport’s half all the way to the uprights for a memorable try. Evans added the extras.

Three sublime tries then followed from substitute Heward. The first came when the winger regained his own chip over the defence. This was followed a few minutes later by Stockport spilling the ball deep in Cleck territory. Woodhead gathered and off loaded to Piercy in the tackle, the 2nd rower rampaged past a couple of defenders before passing to veteran, Carl Mason, who had just come on from the bench. The ball went out to Matt Piper who threw it wide to Heward and the winger’s pace did the rest. The hat-trick was confirmed once again from deep within Cleck’s half of the field. This time Richard Piper made valuable yards from the back of the scrum before the backs, playing with real dynamic flair, got the ball to Heward who stood up his opposite number before rounding him for another converted try. The last try of the day was amongst the best. It started 15m from Cleckheaton’s own line with a carry from Richard Piper, an off-load to Heward and good support from Neil Chivers on Cleckheatons left flank, before the scrum half began the switch of play to the right. Woodhead promoted the ball as did Bradley Marsden, the blindside feigning a pass to Keiron Downs before unloading the ball in the tackle to Neil Chivers who had sprinted across field and he stepped through the now massive gap in the defensive line for Cleckheaton’s 10th try.

This was a top-drawer performance all round from Cleckheaton, with the fact that they nilled the opposition almost as satisfying as the 10 try haul. The win provides a nice confidence boost before the expected tough challenge that close rivals Morley will throw down when they visit Moorend on Saturday.