Clekheaton out-power Darlington

Darlington, however, drew first blood when early pressure from their big forwards resulted in space out wide for Adam Kibirige to score. David Glendenning added the conversion on 7 mins.

Darlington were on the attack once again, when they conceded a penalty in Cleck's half. A quick tap allowed Mark Billington to ghost through the defence and off-load to Ryan Duckett, who out paced Darl's winger and full back for a long range try. Owen Edwards converted.

Cleckheaton kept up the pressure, but to their credit Darlington kept them at bay until the 22nd min when the forwards drove for the line and Ryan Piercy went in for a try. Edwards converted. 5 mins later Cleckheaton's big no 8 Ryan Burrows broke free of the Darlington defence and found the fast moving Matt Callaghan on his tail, to complete the try. Edwards kick hitting the post.

The backs were soon hunting for tries again and 2 mins later, Matt Piper, who was having a good game in defence, went in for a sweet try by the post, which Edwards converted.

Darlington did not give in and put the Cleckheaton defence under pressure, leading to a 36th min penalty, which Glendenning slotted to pull 3 points back. Cleckheaton seemed to take their foot off the gas but with the backs working the ball across field it was time for a forward to get in on the act in the shape of Steve Worsley who went in, in injury time Edwards converted for Cleckheaton to go in at half time 33-10 up.

With Cleckheaton playing more open rugby at the start of the 2nd half it wasn’t long before they were over the line, this time the try coming from Danny Pilkington, Edwards converting on 43 mins. Darlington tried there best to break the Cleckheaton defence, but it was Cleckheaton who scored again in the 52min with 2nd try from Duckett after Burrows had again split the Darlington defence, Edwards converted.

From the kick off Cleckheaton put themselves under some pressure and Darlington cashed in on this when Lee Richardson charged down a kick from Edwards and went in for a try, Glendenning converted.

In the 68th min Cleckheaton let Darlington back in again with a try from Gledenning which he also converted, but Wing Simon Bradshaw had the last word for Cleckheaton when he collected his own chip-kick and went in for the 3rd time in 2 games. Johnny West added the extras to give a final score of 54-24.