Cleckheaton did not get the start they were hoping for in their National 3 League campaign and came away from Waterloo without any points. Preparations were hampered by a late arrival at the Merseyside ground due to a combination of traffic conditions and a tardy departure whilst waiting for a number of players to return from a wedding the day before, in North Yorkshire. When the coach eventually pulled into the opposition’s car park the clock had reached the unseemly time of 2:25pm. Whilst the players scrambled to get changed and ready to play, the very understanding and hospitable Waterloo club warmly welcomed the remainder of Cleckheaton’s travelling contingent.

Cleckheaton gave league debuts to open side flanker Danny Vento and back row - come prop, Callum Thompson, both of whom joined the club in the off-season. With little time to prepare, Cleckheaton started slowly and were starved of possession in the opening few minutes of the match. However, amongst their first touches was an interception from Ross Hayden just outside Cleckheaton’s 22. With the Waterloo defenders snapping at his heels, the speedy winger sprinted fully 70m to score Cleckheaton’s first try and give the visitors a 5-0 lead. The home side encouraged by a decent sized crowd tried to hit back from the restart but Cleckheaton’s solid defence and robust tackling kept them that at bay initially. The pace of the game, as will be the case all season, was a step up from that in North 1 East and eventually created space down Cleckheaton’s right, which the home side’s centre partnership exploited well to create a try for no. 13, John Cunningham. Minutes later, a wayward looping pass down Cleckheaton’s back line was plucked out of the air by Loo’s inside centre and their No.8 was sent on a 50m sprint to the line. He was run down 15 metres short by Mike Piper but an off load to winger Matt Crow, secured Waterloo’s 2nd try, both of which were converted, to give them a 14-5 lead. A few minutes before half time Cleckheaton exerted real pressure on the home side’s line for the first time since Hayden’s try, and James Wilson looked certain to score in the right hand corner. He was somehow kept out but Cleckheaton were rewarded with a line-out 5 metres from the try line. Unfortunately though, time had run out and the referee blew the whistle to end the half before the line out could be formed.

Cleckheaton’s hopes still looked alive at this point with a 9 point deficit not being insurmountable. Things changed quite rapidly though early in the second half when Matt Piper was sin binned for a shoulder charge and with the defence stretched, Matt Crow went in for his second try of the afternoon. Within 30 seconds of being back to full compliment, Skipper Richard Piper was also sin binned for a similar lazy tackle offence and Cleckheaton were back down to 14 men. Waterloo pressed Cleckheaton’s line and in a scramble to defend, Rob Afoa Peterson was adjudged to have deliberately spoilt a try scoring opportunity, completing Cleckheaton’s hat-trick of yellow cards. The visitors tried hard to keep Waterloo at bay with reduced numbers but scores were inevitable and Loo duly obliged with two further converted tries to stretch their lead to 33-5. For the remainder of the game the only question was would Cleckheaton be able to restore any pride with 15 men on the field. With the result in the bag Waterloo’s concentration waned and Jack Bickerdike took a quick tap penalty and scooted under the sticks for a try. Cleckheaton’s forwards then made their way up field in the same uncompromising fashion that was evident last season but had not yet been seen in this game. The pressure on Waterloo told and a handling error whilst trying to clear their lines was capitalised on by Mike Piper for Cleckheaton’s 3rd try. Both of Cleckheaton’s second half tries were converted to give a final score of 33-19.

This was a wake up call for Cleckheaton. National 3 will require an uplift in the general pace of play compared to last year and a reduction in the number of penalties conceded. A hat-trick of penalty tries for Huddersfield in last week’s warm up game and a hat-trick of yellow cards in this match does not bode well. In this league opponent’s will punish errors and take advantage of any penalty and it is important that the team prepares well and goes into every match at the top of their game. This weekend we welcome Wirral RUFC to the club for the first time and whilst we will show them the greatest hospitality before and after the match we are hopeful they will leave the club without any points as Cleckheaton kick-start their season.