Bradshaw on song as Morley return to top of the league

Morley 41Beverley 13

Morley never looked back after Simon Bradshaw raced over in the first minute and they went on to take a bonus point that puts them back to the top of the table on points difference from Stockport, who have played a game more.

Bradshaw added the first of five conversions and then restored Morley's seven-point advantage with a penalty after Phil Duboulay had put Beverley on the board with a kick.

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Morley responded positively to the previous week's unexpected defeat by Penrith and they went further ahead when outside centre Liam Frost touched down.

Duboulay added a second penalty for the visitors just before the break but Morley restarted brightly and five minutes into the second half Mark Chester went over to put his side 24-6 in front.

Captain Craig Field and a second try for Frost put the home side out of sight but Beverley never gave up looking for points and were rewarded when second-row Gavin Gibson crashed over, with Duboulay adding the conversion.

There was no stopping Morley. Fly-half Chester grabbed his second try and Bradshaw slotted home the kick to take his personal tally to 18 points.

Darlington MP 10

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Cleckheaton had to be content with two points from a hard-fought draw.

The hosts took a 12th-minute lead with a converted try but they had a player sin-binned in the 23rd minute.

Cleckheaton began to make inroads only to have Pete Murphy binned for an illegal tackle.

The second half started with Mitch Ashworth coming on for the injured Matt Piper.

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With the forwards working as a unit and the scrummaging tighter, the visitors started to press and Ashworth made ground down the wing before finding support from Tom Lauriston, who went in at the corner, Iain Gordon's conversion going wide.

Darlington's Geoff Jones responded with a penalty in front of the posts.

Tom Clough replaced Jones in the 65th minute and made an immediate impact with a good break for halfway only to be hauled down by the last defender.

Cleckheaton were sparked by a storming run from Ryan Piercy and the pack rapidly recycled the ball and Lance Hamilton emerged from the ruck to run from halfway for a try. Gordon's conversion, however, went over the top of a post and did not count.

Cleckheaton kept up the pressure, but Park held and broke out to leave the visitors defending until the final whistle.

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