Hull 42 – 22 Cleckheaton

Cleckheaton’s pack put in a very determined performance at the Ferrens ground and were rewarded when first lock, Ryan Piercy, and then Hooker, Mark Chivers, drove over for two first half tries. Cleckheaton's scores were punctuated by replies from Hull through Mike Jobling and a long range effort from the pacey Steve Hieheta, with Ronan Evans and Lee Birch converting one each for Cleckheaton and Hull respectively. With 35 minutes played the scores were deadlocked at 12-12. Just before the break, with Cleckheaton's skipper, Richard Piper, in the sin-bin, Birch added another try for Hull. He missed the conversion, but was successful with a penalty goal on the half time whistle, to give Hull a 20-12 lead at the interval.

Cleckheaton renewed their effort in the 2nd half and applied pressure but a break from Hull and a penalty gave them a line out close to Cleckheaton's whitewash. A practiced line out drill, moving the ball back to the hooker in the 5m channel, was well executed and home side captain, Tom Price, dived over for an unconverted try. Cleckheaton responded when Evans, back in his role at stand-off for this game, threw a long, looping pass from centre field to Cleckheaton's right winger, Josh Hall. Hall drew the attention of the Hull defender and then popped the ball back inside where outside centre, Neil Chivers, had hit a line which would take him in at the corner. The game was poised and still up for grabs at 25-17 and Cleckheaton were attacking the Hull line when the home team turned over the ball and nearly went the length of the field. The Hull attacker was bundled into touch 5m out but an unfortunate fumble in Cleckheaton's line out, which was otherwise excellent all afternoon, gifted Hull’s Colin Quigley, a simple try. Harvey Harding went in for Hull’s 6th try to put the game beyond Cleckheaton's reach at 35-17 with less than 10 mins left on the clock but Cleckheaton kept working hard to get something out of the fixture. Their efforts were rewarded when Richard Piper went in for Cleckheaton’s 4th and potentially very valuable bonus point, try on 76 minutes. With time all but up, Cleckheaton’s scrum half, Jack Bickerdike, tapped a penalty just inside his own half and the team rumbled forward with a view to keeping the ball alive and scoring a try in overtime, which if converted, would net a second bonus point. It wasn't to be and Hull regained possession and gave the final score a more one-sided look, when Lee Birch stepped his way over for his second and then added the conversion from the touch line to round off an impressive personal performance.

Cleckheaton can take a lot of positives from this one. Whilst they didn't beat 3rd in the table Hull, they remained very competitive throughout and were rewarded with a try scoring bonus point. There is no league action this weekend as it is the last round of this year’s Six Nations competition but the week after, Cleck welcome 2nd from bottom Firwood Waterloo to Moorend. This is an absolutely vital game for both sides. Waterloo are much improved from earlier in the season and this game is more like a cup final for them, knowing that if they lose to Cleckheaton, then they are all but certain to finish in the bottom three. Cleck on the other hand, can move 6 points clear of Doncaster Phoenix with a win and if Cleckheaton are to remain safe in National 3 this season, then this is seen as a must win game. The team will be well prepared and need to maintain their discipline on the field and stick to the game plan on the day. If they do, then their tenure in the 5th flight of rugby in this country will be one step closer to being secured.