Bradford Salem hit by heavy defeat (From Bradford Telegraph and Argus)

Bradford Salem hit by heavy defeat

6:04pm Sunday 2nd September 2012 in Sport By Neil Klenk

Bradford Salem got a rude awakening in their opening fixture in Yorkshire Division Two as they went down 22-47 to an impressive and well-organised Sheffield Medicals side.

Salem, who only just missed out on promotion in the previous season, were strong favourites to overcome the newly promoted Sheffield side and their bigger pack dominated the early exchanges.

However, the visitors' tenacious defence held firm and in their first visit into Salem territory they scored from a catch and drive to take a 7-0 lead.

Lifted by this, the Medics started to play with increasing confidence and their talented backs began to exploit the gaps created by their mobile pack.

Two further converted tries gave the visitors a 21-0 lead at the break and despite a rallying call from coach Phil Nilsen, Salem conceded a further 2 converted tries early in the second half to go behind 35-0 behind.

To their credit, the Bradford side did not throw in the towel and they hit back with tries from prop Simon Davies, flanker Dave Hutton, Number 8 Kris Falwasser and debutant winger Ryan Jolly to earn a bonus point and with the score at 22-35, they had the sniff of a remarkable comeback.

However, with time ticking away, Salem had to chase the game and some loose play allowed Sheffield Medicals to score two breakaway tries to run out deserved 47-22 winners.