7:16pm Sunday 5th September 2010
Cleckheaton 26, West Hartlepool 35
Cleckheaton could have easily won their opening game but were thwarted by West’s Foreman brothers, Gareth and Andy.
They were soon 6-0 down thanks to Gareth Foreman but two good kicks from Iain Gordon, one from just ten metres inside the West half, put Cleck back on level terms.
However, with No 9 Andy Foreman controlling play from the scrum, the visitors notched the first try on 26 minutes when Ant Carr crossed.
Cleck pulled three points back on the stroke of half-time after West’s Scott Jordan was sin-binned and Gordon kicked the penalty. But then in injury-time, Cleck’s Richard Piper was also yellow-carded as Hartlepool went in 13-9 up.
A break from Pete Murphy sent Gordon in for a try early in the second half but West edged back in front with a try from Adam Larkin, who crossed again on 62 minutes to put West 13 points in front.
Tries from Ross Hayden and Craig Blackburn saw Cleck reduce the gap to 27-26 but more poor tackling after 75 minutes let in Hartlepool’s Joe Rafferty for a try. A drop goal in the late stages sealed victory for the visitors.
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