Kestrels
Matches
Sat 05 Oct 2013  ·  Premiership
Hull Ionians 2
61
0
Cleckheaton RUFC
Kestrels
Hull Ionians 61 - 0  Cleckheaton

Hull Ionians 61 - 0 Cleckheaton

Neil Gillan7 Oct 2013 - 20:55
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A character building game for the Kestrels, with a scoreline which does not reflect the competitiveness of the encounter.

The Kestrel's travelled to National One club, Hull Ionians, with a depleted contingent of just 16 men. The knowledge that Ionians had put 64 points past Otley in their previous home game aside, work commitments and injuries combined to demand some late rearrangements to the selected side. Cleckheaton were forced to go with experience in the front row and the trio, who would have to play the full 80 minutes, had a combined age of 111. The two props, who can't be named on the grounds of maintaining domestic bliss, will thank 18 year old hooker James Crowther for bringing the average age down to a mere 37. So this was always going be a tough afternoon for the Kestrel's or alternatively; an afternoon for the players to be tough and concentrate on how they perform. The mantra from coach Wayne McSwiney was that whatever the final score, the players come off the field with their heads held high, having given their all.

Ionians started strongly, recycling the ball at pace from the outset and trying to bash their way up field with their robust set of forwards. However, steely defence in the middle of the park throughout the game from Carl Mason and Matt Beasty, as well as excellent straight up and cover tackling from Josh White and Jack Seddon, kept the home side at bay. The National 1 team harboured plenty of danger in their back line too and this was demonstrated through an early try from their rangy centre. For the next 25 minutes Cleckheaton took the game to their opponents, Jarrad Toulson with some excellent positional kicking kept the home side penned in their half, whilst the forwards battled hard in the contact area, with White, Seddon, Crowther and Rob Brown ensuring that the Kestrels recycled possession. Lewis Beasty had a fine game at 9 and centre partnership of Craig Blackburn and George Speight, along with full back, Tom Brooke tested out the Ionians line defence on a numerous occasions. Ionians however, knew they had speed to burn out wide and despite's Cleckheaton's pressure, broke free and tip-toed down the touch line for a long range try. Cleckheaton came very close to scoring in the last ten minutes of the half, when a break from White took them into their opponents 22 and they battered I's line time and time again. Despite appearing to have scored, the referee didn't see the grounding and awarded a 5m attacking scrum, which ultimately came to nothing. At half time the Kestrels had put in a mammoth effort, played with tremendous pride and had a chance of causing an upset.

The 7 second half tries that Ionians went on to score might give the impression that Cleckheaton capitulated but this is far from the truth as they battled to the last. the majority of Ionians tries coming from their outside back partnership of S. Gonzalez and G. Lightening, who despite the best efforts of the Kestrels and wingers Jake Green and James Firth, broke away for long range tries a further 5 times in total. James Firth had to come off the field with an injury that has placed him in pot for a few weeks, making way for Ricky Motlib. Cleckheaton's forwards were unlucky not to get on the score sheet during this period when they once again battered Ionians line. White did touch down over the whitewash but the referee harshly, given that Ionians where 47-0 in front, ruled that he had not regained his feet from a previous ruck and awarded The home side a penalty. Two late tries rubbed salt into Cleckheaton's wounds and led to a hefty looking final score of 61 - 0.

Though a heavy defeat, this game was character building for many of the young Kestrels players amongst Cleckheaton's 16. Ionians fielded a strong team, a number of whom will play National One rugby this season and whilst the scoreboard looks very one-sided, the game was very competitive for the vast majority of the 80 minutes. On another bright note, the Kestrels have secured the services of Physio Alex Websdale who was in attendance on Saturday and will be a tremendous help throughout the season.

For Ionians take on the game click here: Hull Ionians Match Report

Match details

Match date

Sat 05 Oct 2013

Kickoff

15:00

Competition

Premiership
Team overview
Further reading

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