National League Three North: Cleckheaton 25 Rossendale 12

CLECKHEATON not only confirmed their 100 per cent home record for 2016, but also confirmed secured their place in the fourth tier for another season with a bonus-point victory.

The two sides exchange forays into each others territory in the first 20 minutes but neither side really threatened the whitewash.

Midway through the half, however, home centre Matt Piper picked up the ball at the back of the last of a series of rucks and scooted his way over, Ronan Evans adding the conversion to give Cleckheaton a 7-0 lead.

Shortly after the restart, Cleckheaton flanker Jack Seddon collected the ball just inside his own half and charged at a defender, breaking the tackle.

He then set off up the pitch at full pace, finding James Wilson, who drew Rossendale's full back before passing back to Seddon for the best try of the day.

George Peel went in for Rossendale to narrow the scores to 12-5 before Seddon added his second try following a line-out catch and drive.

Evans missed the conversion but added a penalty goal at the end of the half to give Cleckheaton a 20-5 lead at the change of ends.

The majority of the second half remained scoreless, with tempers fraying on both sides, resulting in two yellow cards for Cleckheaton and a red for Rossendale.

With ten minutes to go, Danny Vento went in for Cleckheaton's bonus-point try, earning the single point his team needed to mathematically seal safety in the division.

However, it was to be the full five points that Cleckheaton collected from the game because, despite a late consolation try for Ryan de la Harpe, another solid performance from the West Yorkshiremen delivered a convincing 25-12 win.

It took their record to eight wins in 11 matches, thereby completing the Great Escape after they had lost 11 of their initial 14 games.