Sandal 58 - 22 Cleckheaton

Even with a full strength team this match would have been a big task for a Cleckheaton side which is finding its feet at this level of rugby. With injuries to key players prior to the match, following last week's victory over Rossendale the ask became even harder. Add to that an opposition which is rightly considered amongst the favourites for promotion it meant that the eighteen players selected would have to be at the top of their game. The reality was a heavy defeat but on a positive note a bonus point for scoring four tries.
Sandal opened with a Greg Wood penalty in the first minute and inside the first quarter of the match the hosts ran in three converted tries to open up a seemingly unassailable lead. Tempers frayed on the half hour and Tom Austin and Sandal prop Luke Norbury joined Paul Turner in the sin bin, previously excluded for deliberate offside. Sandal added to their tally with a fourth try on 37 minutes and their fast, direct approach was paying dividends although the Cleckheaton mid field tackling was not up to its usual high standard. 29-0 at the break and a bonus point already in the bag for the hosts meant damage limitation for the remaining forty minutes for the shell shocked Cleckheaton side.
Sandal increased their lead within minutes of the restart with a second try for winger Dave Martin which was converted by playmaker and skipper Greg Wood. Two minutes later the Cleckheaton fightback began when Danny Vento was credited with the try following a powerful rolling maul. The conversion was missed but ten minutes later Michael Piper sped through a gap in the home defence to score a good try which was converted by Ross Hayden. Cleckheaton now had some momentum for the first time in the match and just to reflect that change in fortune a Sandal attack down the left side of the field broke down when a speculative pass was intercepted by Craig Blackburn who showed a clean pair of heals to the wrong footed Sandal defence. Almost immediately the hosts hit back when back row James Briscoe showed great pace to sprint forty metres to the line for his second and his side's sixth try. Greg Wood converted and added a penalty before the unfortunate Sandal skipper had to be stretchered from the field with what appeared to be a serious knee injury.
Much to their credit Cleckheaton continued to strive for the bonus point and were rewarded on the hour mark when stand in scrum half James Wilson spotted a gap and dived over for the consolation fourth try. Again the conversion was missed and Sandal reasserted their superiority on the day with two further tries before the final whistle one of which was converted.
This was a salutary lesson for Cleckheaton and a reflection of a certain amount of naevity within the side. Sandal had genuine pace all over the park and perhaps a kicking game which seemed to give possession to them in broken play was inadvisable. Having now played the league's top three sides all away from home the team must now learn from those three experiences and move forward against the leagues' weaker teams.
There was good news from Cleckheaton's other senior teams with easy victories for the Kestrels at home to Sandal, a 50 point victory over Heath 2nds for the thirds and a loss but with a bonus point for the fourths at Ilkley.