Cleckheaton claimed a bonus point win in their first home game of the season against league newcomers Sheffield. The South Yorkshiremen with the vastly experienced, former Cleck favourite, John Dudley in their ranks had opened their North One account in some style the previous weekend with a fifty point win over Gateshead. The visitors were also first on the scoreboard this week, when winger Alex Hill crossed inside 10 minutes for a converted try after his teammates skillfully executed a 3 on 2 overlap.

Cleckheaton's lineout had not functioned to full effect in the opening portion of the game allowing the visitors to monopolise possession and but for stonewall defence, with stand-out tackles from Andy Piper and Iain Gordon, Sheffield may have gone further ahead. The vociferous crowd expressed some disappointment when Ross Hayden had a try chalked off, the initial pass to try provider Pete Murphy, being dubiously ruled forward. The home fans didn’t have to hold their cheer for long though as Iain Gordon superbly floated a long kick on the strong wind giving Sheffield a must-win lineout 15 metres from their own line. Pressure on the catcher from Ryan Piercy and James Sergeant was enough to see the ball go to ground and skipper Paul Turner pounced on it and drove across the line with 2 defenders desperately but ultimately unsuccessfully, trying to pull him back. Gordon added the extras to level the scores.

Cleckheaton took the lead when a long pass from Pete Murphy, who put in an excellent days work, found Martin Woodhead out wide. The outside centre engaged Sheffield’s defensive line and had the strength to free an arm to put Ross Hayden in space 40 metres out. Hayden’s trademark step left another defender hopelessly grasping thin air and the winger went in for an unconverted try.

A shot at goal from a Cleckheaton penalty 40m out was narrowly missed and Sheffield’s enterprising play, which saw them re-gather from the 22 drop out, came to naught when the visitors dropped the ball. From the play following the resulting scrum, Cleckheaton were awarded a penalty leading to a line-out 10m from Sheffield’s line. With reliability now returning to the set piece, the catch and drive was executed with text book aplomb and Richard Piper went in for Cleckheaton’s third try of the afternoon to earn a 17-7 lead.

With 5 minutes left in the half, Sheffield converted a penalty to bring themselves within 7 points of the Moorenders at the break. As club Doctor Jim Lee placed 4 stitches in a wound on Richard Piper’s eyebrow, Dave Harrison stressed the importance of good option taking to his troops, whilst also praising the physical effort the team had put in during the first 40 mins.

Sheffield had also reflected at half time and started with renewed determination, centre Dave McCabe going in for an unconverted try within the first couple of minutes of the second half to narrow the scores 17-15. Cleckheaton responded in the best possible way applying the pressure to Sheffield from the kick off and eventually winning a 5 metre scrum. Sheffield tried to disrupt the pick up but Ollie Depledge capitalised on the situation and put Ryan Piercy into a gap with just the fullback, who was stood on the whitewash, standing in the way of him and the line. The ensuing try was unconverted and Cleck's 7 point advantage was restored.

Sheffield kicked a penalty following a period of sustained pressure in Cleck's 22 before Paul Turner contributed the game's champagne moment and cemented his claim to the PZ Engineers Man of the Match. The skipper went on a bullocking run from the back of a ruck pushing away 2 defenders and carrying a further two almost 20 metres up field before being taken to ground. A long pass fired from the hands of Depledge found Matt Piper along the left touchline and he went in for the final try to bring the scores to 27-12.

A competent performance by the team, which they will look to emulate and build on when they make the trip up the A1 to Gateshead this weekend.