National League Three North: Huddersfield 47 Cleckheaton 14

CLECKHEATON made the short trip to Lockwood Park with a depleted squad, with several players absent due to injuries.

This meant that Ed Curley made the trip up from Worcester, where he is now studying, specifically for the game before returning for an appointment the following day, and big Carl Mason was called out of retirement to don his high-ankle rugby boots once again.

Cleckheaton started brightly and earned territorial advantage in the opening exchanges against a team who knew that even a bonus point  would make them champions.

The visitors are generally robust in the tight but the table toppers, who are unbeaten since dropping down from the fourth tier, possess a much greater capability to break out of their own half and turn defence in attack, with quick flowing, well-supported rugby.

The home side have scored over 1100 points this season and picked up another seven with a trademark break upfield.

Cleckheaton’s scrambling defence infringed in a bid to slow play down and, from the penalty and set-piece, former Bradford & Bingley player Adam Malthouse went in for the home side, with Chris Bell converting.

The visitors showed commitment and tried to front up but fast hands spread Cleckheaton too thinly, and Elliot Knight went in at the corner.

The home side's advantage was increased further when Malthouse went in for his second, and Bell made it three out of three with the boot to give his team a 21-0 lead.

Cleckheaton were not there to roll over, however, and a period of sustained pressure on Huddersfield’s line saw the league leaders concede a number of penalties in a bid to keep Cleckheaton out.

Eventually the referee lost patience and Joel Hinchcliffe was sin-binned for Huddersfield.

Cleckheaton opted for the scrum, and a quick lift from Jack Bickerdike and a runaround move from Ronan Evans and Matt Piper found Josh Hall cutting an incisive line all the way to the whitewash, with Evans adding the conversion.

In the dying seconds of the first half, Huddersfield went in for their bonus-point winning try, which also guaranteed that they would be crowned league champions.

In the second half, Cleckheaton continued to give Huddersfield a contest but, despite their efforts, including a stand-out tackle from Luke Pearson, Hudderfield went in for three more tries through Nick Rhodes, Ben Morrill and Brandon Conway.

Bell converted two and, with less than ten minutes left to play, it would have been easy for Cleckheaton to capitulate.

They did nothing of the sort and worked their way upfield, getting a reward for their efforts when James Wilson, carrying a broken rib as it would later turn out, dived over for a consolation try, with Evans converting for a final score of 47-14.