Old Crossleyans 18 - 24 Cleckheaton

Despite the fact there was no 3rd team fixture this week, the Kestrels still had the usual scramble for players early on Saturday morning. The two first team squad players that were due to have a run in the 2nds were recalled to the First XV very late in the day, leaving the Kestrels with just 13 men an hour before the allocated meet time and just 14 men as the side assembled in the club car park. Fortunately two club stalwarts, Carl Mason and Andy Porritt, agreed to play despite both carry injuries and Cleck were able to make the trip over to Halifax with 15 men.

With nothing to lose, in this friendly fixture, captain Matt Womersley urged his side to take the field with the resolve to play basic rugby and defend well. The opening 15 minutes of the game went exactly to plan and Cleck opened the scoring after just 5 minutes. Good scrummaging in Crocs’ 22, saw the ball moved to centre Gareth Lamb who threw a dummy before popping a short ball to full back Robin Bennett. Bennett ran the perfect line, hitting the gap at pace and after collecting the pass, sprinted in close to the sticks. James Wilson converting. Following the re-start Old Crocs were reduced to 14 men after their scrum half was sin binned for needless back-chat. With the one man advantage it wasn’t long before the Kestrels were back on the score sheet again. Stand off James Wilson receiving the ball from the back of a ruck and dummying to his centre before stepping back down the blindside and dancing round the full back for a try near the right hand corner. The conversion was missed but Cleck had a 12 – 0 lead after quarter of an hour.

From this point on the Kestrels took their foot off the gas and at the same time Crocs strengthened their resolve, leading to a frustrating 25 minute period. Cleck’s discipline let them down as they gave away penalty after penalty for handling the ball on the floor, high tackles, off-side and chelping. With the wealth of possession that Crocs had, Cleck’s manly defence was eventually breached and the home side scored two unconverted tries and kicked a penalty without Cleck really getting out of their own half. At the half time whistle, Crocs’ endeavour had seen them take the lead 13 -12.

The interval gave the Cleck coaching staff and players a few minutes to reflect on the good, the bad and the ugly of the first 40 minutes. The Kestrel knew that if they could cut out the penalties, they would be in with a very good chance of taking the spoils. The second half saw defences on top for the first 20 minutes, as both sides applied pressure to each other’s line. Tensions were growing and culminated in both packs setting about each other under Marquis of Queensbury rules. Matt Womersley and the Crossleyans No 8 getting ten minutes in the cooler as a result. Cleck broke the deadlock in the last quarter of the game when Gareth Lamb was put in space down Cleck’s left handside, evading one would-be tackler and out-gassing the fullback to reach the line. James Wilson hit the post with his conversion attempt. Cleck were now 4 points in front at 17-13 but with the clock ticking away the game remained incrediblly tense.

The win for Cleck was confirmed on the 75 minute mark as pressure on the Kestrel’s line was eased by a Crocs infringement and the resulting kick and good line-out ball saw James Wilson going on another mazy run to eventually score under the posts. The extras were added by Robin Bennett to give the Kestrels an unassailable 24 – 13 lead. To be fair to Old Crossleyans they did not give up the game at this point and came straight back at Cleckheaton, scoring in the eigthieth minute to give the final score a more even look.

This was a good determined effort from Cleckheaton, well done to all those that took part.