Cleckheaton overcome sin-bin trouble to check march of Sandal

leaders Sandal were made to work hard for their share of the spoils but in doing so maintained their unbeaten away record in a 3-3 draw at Cleckheaton.

The energy-sapping conditions coupled with constant wintry showers made expansive rugby impossible.

However, there was much to admire about the driving play of both sets of forwards and as Sandal intensified the pressure in the last 10 minutes, the Cleckheaton defence was magnificent.

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The only score of the first half was Mark Pease’s penalty for Sandal and even though the hosts were reduced to 13 men for the last seven minutes of the half with yellow cards for forwards Paul Turner and Carl Mason, Sandal could not cross the line.

Cleckheaton’s pack continued to strive for field position in the second half and Michael Piper’s drop goal levelled matters.

However, it was the visitors who had the chance to win the match in the last minute but Pease’s penalty hit the upright and Cleckheaton’s undefeated home record remained intact.

Morley were left feeling hard done by after a 16-3 home defeat at the hands of promotion-chasing Sale.

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Morley made a bright start with a penalty from fly-half Kenny Sewell and it was not until the half-hour mark that Sale scored when a chip over the defence bounced awkwardly, allowing centre Chris Mayor a straight run through for fly-half Liam McGovern to convert.

After the break, Morley continued to have sustained periods of pressure but Sale added a penalty on 56 minutes and saw out the game with two further kicks from McGovern in the last 10 minutes.

Henry Packard scored a brace as Sheffield Tigers romped to a 39-0 win over Westoe.

Aaron Langan made the breakthrough for Tigers after 12 minutes and the try of the match came from Adam Shaw, who finished off a lovely move which saw the ball break with Peter Swatkins before being handled by all the backs. Stefan Destounis, Joe Taylor and Lee Monks also crashed over.

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Beverley were unable to contain the home side’s hard running backs at Billingham and conceded nine tries in a 59-10 defeat.

Billingham went ahead with an early try by centre Luke Wilson and three converted tries by full-back Peter Evans, Chris Hyndman and lock Ryan Kirkbride in the space of 10 minutes took them into a 26-0 lead.

Phil Duboulay kicked a penalty for Beverley but in the second half further home tries came from Wilson, Evans, flanker Dan Burns, and Hyndman (2), four of them converted, before wing Anthony Spence scored a late converted consolation try.

Huddersfield YMCA’s home game against Rossendale was postponed.

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