Kestrels
Matches
Sat 12 Oct 2013  ·  Premiership
Cleckheaton RUFC
Kestrels
31
7
Otley 2
Cleckheaton Kestrels  31 – 7  Otley 2nds

Cleckheaton Kestrels 31 – 7 Otley 2nds

Neil Gillan17 Oct 2013 - 07:39
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Jack Seddon Hat-trick Earns Cleckheaton a Bonus Point Win

The Kestrels got back to winning ways in fine style with a bonus point win over a youthful Otley side. A hat-trick from Man of the Match Jack Seddon ultimately secured the 5 points on a cold and wet day at Moorend.

Otley started the game brightly and enjoyed some early pressure but Cleckheaton held firm with some good defence out wide from Harry Bairstow and George Speight. The opening exchanges in the scrimmage were encouraging with Liam Goldthorpe, Ricky Motlib and Alex Dawson, playing in his favoured position of prop for the first time since joining the club in the summer, getting the better of their opponents and taking a couple of scrums against the head. The Kestrel’s line-out was also working well with Matt Beasty looking very solid on Cleckheaton’s ball and Seddon, jumping at two, disrupting or stealing Otley’s throw on many occasions. With this surfeit of 1st phase possession, Cleckheaton were able to threaten the visitors line but the slippery conditions led to spilled ball. Cleckheaton opened the scoring when Carl Mason directed a line-out drive down field and Jarrad Toulson popped a pass to Jack Seddon, who beat three men to trot in from 20m out. Toulson added the extras.

Cleckheaton went on the attack from the restart, with some strong running from Tom Brooke and Patrick Horrigan and some rumbles in the forwards from Jim Crowther and Cameron Brannan. The visitor’s back row, in desperation to turn over the ball, were caught handling on the floor too many times and the referee showed a yellow card to Otley’s open side flanker. Around the same time Otley’s tight head picked up a leg injury and had to go off. With no replacement prop the game switched to uncontested scrums, which perhaps favoured the visitors more than Cleckheaton, who had been dominant. Seddon finished the half on a bright note when he collected a ball from scrum half Lewis Beasty, broke through an Otley tackle and dived under the posts. The Toulson conversion gave a half time score of 14-0.

With Rob Brown on for Brannan and Matthew Hadfield on in place of Goldthorpe, Cleckheaton started the 2nd half with a collective agreement to play simple rugby and not concede penalties. Ironically, Cleckheaton went on to concede half a dozen penalties in the next 10 minutes and gave Otley their greatest period of pressure. However, the line remained unbroken and notable tackles from Seddon and Dawson kept the visitors at bay.

Notwithstanding his M.o.M performance, Seddon picked up a yellow card, when the referee demonstrated consistency and sent the back rower to the bin for handling on the floor. Otley, having exhausted attempts to run through the Kestrels, tried a couple of chip overs and the second of these bounced in Cleck’s 22 and an airshot from fullback Jake Green, which he will quickly want to forget, gifted Otley a try. At 14 – 7 there was a danger that Otley might get something out of the game. Cleckheaton opted to introduce more fresh legs and Mark Fletcher took up the scrum half position in place of Lewis Beasty, whilst Max Sowden, making a come back after a few seasons away, came on for Hadfield. Will Denham also made a return from injury, replacing Ricky Motlib. Toulson gave the Kestrels some breathing space with a converted penalty and with renewed impetus they started to take the game to Otley again. Alex Dawson was rewarded for some strong running with a try from the back of a maul and with 3 tries in the bag and 5 minutes remaining the Kestrels eyed a bonus point. Seddon duly obliged with a try to seal his hat-trick and earn Cleckheaton 5 league points.

Match details

Match date

Sat 12 Oct 2013

Kickoff

15:00

Competition

Premiership
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Further reading

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