Cleckheaton 24 – 6 Pocklington

Cleckheaton welcomed back former lock forward Richard Wilson and his Pocklington team, for whom he is now head coach, to Moorend on a blustery and wet autumnal day. The fixture would determine who would start November at the top of North 1 East and promised to be an enthralling encounter. Whilst the weather conditions put paid to open flowing rugby for three quarters of the game, defences were to the forefront and for the second week in a row, Cleckheaton prevented their opposition from getting a try.

Pocklington opened the scoring with a penalty on 5 minutes but then a good run from Matt Piper and James Wilson along Cleckheaton’s right flank took play to Pocklington’s 22. The visitors infringed in their attempt to stop Cleckheaton getting quick ball and the resulting penalty gave the home side a line-out 10 metres from Pock’s line. With Ollie Akroyd back in the side after a week away and Ben Thrower on target, the lineout was taken convincingly and the Cleckheaton catch and drive machine clicked into gear with a try for Richard Piper. The conversion was narrowly missed.

Cleckheaton were hampered from making further progress when Rob Afoa-Peterson was sin binned on the 20 minute mark, against the run of the penalty count but the Moorenders weathered the storm and were returned to full compliment without a change in the score. With the very last action of the first half Sam Askam put Pocklington into a 6-5 lead with his second converted penalty.

With the strong wind now at Cleckheaton’s back, the home side had the opportunity to use the elements to their advantage but for the first 20 minutes of the second half, they were frustrated by handling errors. Cleckheaton broke the deadlock as the game entered its final quarter, when a returned kick was caught by Michael Piper a yard from touch on the half way line. The standoff headed in field and threw a long pass to Matt Piper, who with another long pass had moved the ball the full width of the pitch. Ross Hayden was waiting on the wing with open ground in front of him and the cover defence was always going to lose the race to get to the speedy fullback. Hayden converted his own try to give Cleckheaton a 12-6 lead.

Pocklington tried to work hard to bash their way out of their half but Cleckheaton’s excellent defence with Rob Afoa Peterson and Ryan Piercy making notable tackles, ensured the visitors had little joy. A 60m touch finding kick by Michael Piper and a Pocklington line out disrupted by Ollie Akroyd, earned Cleckheaton possession in Pock’s 22. The pack set up a driving maul and Ryan Piercy touched down close to the sticks. Hayden again converted.

Cleckheaton rounded off a convincing display with a bonus point try, which followed a scrum move that saw Jack Bickerdike held up a few feet short, before Cleck’s Forwards set up another rolling maul, which Andy piper grounded as the pack crossed the whitewash. The conversion drifted wide and the scoreboard had moved on to 24-6, where it stayed for the last 5 minutes of the match.

This was a well deserved win against a tough side and places Cleckheaton at the top of North 1 East with a game in hand. Thoughts now turn to another tough encounter, when Cleckheaton make the short trip to play local rivals Old Crossleyans this Saturday.