1st XV
Matches
Sat 07 Mar 2020  ·  North One East
Morley
17
18
Cleckheaton RUFC
1st XV
Tries: M Hayward, J WilsonConversions: D BreakwellPenalties: D Breakwell (2)Yellow Carded: J Wilson
Morley 17 Cleckheaton 18

Morley 17 Cleckheaton 18

Geoff Akerman7 Mar 2020 - 22:50
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Cleckheaton battle to thrilling victory

Cleckheaton gained a revenge victory over Morley in a pulsating local derby at Scatcherd Lane today.
Cleckheaton had a few injuries after last weeks win, skipper Matt Piper was out with a thigh injury and Joey Carley hadn't recovered from an ankle knock. Gus Milborne filled in at centre while Tom Austin returned in the back row. Player Coach Thiu Barnard was on the bench with Matt Wood and Archie Rika-Rayne.
The pitch was very heavy in places and fitness levels would be vital as the game wore on.
At the first line out, Brad Marsden took clean ball and made several yards driven on by his pack, when Morley infringed at the maul, Dale Breakwell slotted a simple penalty goal , 0-3 on 3 minutes. Cleckheaton extended the lead 5 minutes later with a blind side burst by Jack Seddon who fed Mikey Hayward who stepped inside the defence for his 19th try of the season, kick was wide of the posts 0-8.
Morley got their act together and on 12 minutes a great break by the full back down the stand side pulled the defence across and he fed the ball to Tom Richmond who powered over the line, Mark Chester added the goal 7-8 .
Morley got back into the action with the forwards trying to batter their way down the middle but they net solid resistance from Andy Piper , Ben Thrower and Niall Jackson in the front line , when the ball was shipped wide , Hayward , Marshall, Depledge and Milborne put in some big hits to disrupt the home teams progress. The scrum was dominated by Cleckheaton and Morley looked like the were bring overrun at times. On 22 minutes , with Cleckheaton going close through Piper and Plunkett, Wilson popped up to crash over from short range for his 8th try of the season, Breakwell added the extras 7-15.
Both teams were trying to get the ball to the the wings but both teams defended well as half time approached. Archie Rika-Rayne replaced Ben Etchells at half time.
Into the second half , Morley had the better of the possession and on 48 minutes , Chester made a fine break who turned an inside ball to the No.8 Darrel Griffin who scored under the posts, Chester adding the goal for a one point game 14-15. Moments later, James Wilson was shown the Yellow Card for not rolling away and Chester knocked over the penalty to give Morley the lead for the first time 17-15.
That was the only score in the sin bin period so Cleckheaton showed some bottle to hang on for the 10 minutes. Jack Marshall made 50 metres downfield in a mazy run , but a forward pass ended that chance. Coach Thiu Barnard entered the game replacing Archie Rika Rayne. Moments later , Depledge was put clean through the middle by Dale Breakwell, but the referee saw a forward pass again and the the move ended with a scrum. Breakwell had an opportunity on 58 minutes to kick a penalty but it went wide of the right hand upright.
A series of penalties awarded against Morley at the ruck had the home fans getting agitated , but Cleckheaton just kept up the intensity and got over the ball as quickly as possible and waited for the error to arrive.
On 71 minutes, Breakwell lined up a 40 metre goal, the ball was well struck and sailed over the bar for Cleckheaton to regain the lead 17 -18. What should have been a tense final 8 minutes was dominated by Cleckheaton, so much so that Morley barely mounted a worthwhile attack. With time running out, Cleckheaton were camped on the Morley line and couldn't quite finish the job off, they conceded the penalty and Morley advanced downfield but when the Cleckheaton team forced the turnover, the ball was cleared and the final whistle saw Cleckheaton record the victory 17-18.
Cleckheaton's front row were magnificent on the day and deserved the collective Man of the Match award.
Next week Cleckheaton are back at home, Pocklington will be the visitors and kick off will be 3:00.

Match details

Match date

Sat 07 Mar 2020

Kickoff

15:00

Competition

North One East

League position

2
Cleckheaton
5
Morley
Team overview
Further reading

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