Cleck fail to use the elements

8:29pm Sunday 9th March 2008

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Darlington 35, Cleckheaton 12

Darlington had first use of the slope, wind and driving rain in this North Division One match yesterday, and they used them well.

Cleckheaton were unable to get their hands on the ball and soon found themselves back-pedalling. Two missed tackles down the left flank and Darlington's Andrew Pugh registered his first try.

Evan Haigh added the conversion and Cleckheaton were 7-0 behind within three minutes.

From the restart, Cleck were again put on the defensive and allowed the Darlington scrum half to throw an outrageous dummy close to a ruck and scoot through for a second try.

Haigh added the goal and Cleck were 14 points down within six minutes.

Fortunately they were able to regroup and get their hands on the ball to make some progress up the slope with pick and drives, ably lead by John Dudley and Lance Hamilton - the only tactic they could sensibly use in the conditions.

Play tended to be in midfield but both sides made lots of handling errors in the horrendous conditions However, Darlington's Haigh was able to use the wind to add two long-range penalties to take them to a 20-point lead just as the half was running out.

Then Cleck made the mistake of the match. With scrum possession firmly won they tried to make progress with a three-quarter move which involved the full back in the line.

Inevitably, in the conditions, a pass was misdirected and Pugh picked up the loose ball to score wide out, Haigh adding the goal to herald the half-time whistle.

It took 11 minutes of the second half for Cleck to get on the score- sheet with an unconverted try after a miscued Darlington clearance ballooned backwards, but they were unable to exert the dominance that the home side had achieved when they were playing with the elements.

Basically Darlington had the bit between their teeth and were not going to let go. Their heavier pack were giving the Cleck eight a hard time and that wasn't helped when Cleck's No 8 was yellow- carded for handling in a ruck.

In fact, Cleck were spending more time in their own half than in the opposition's. Granted the incessant rain had eased but the wind was still blowing and kicking for field position would have been a better option than trying to run the ball out of defence.

As the game moved into the final quarter it sprang into life when Darlington's tight-head prop Dave Tunstead, showing a surprising turn of speed, bounced off a couple of half-hearted tackles and made 30 metres up the middle of the park.

The move continued to the left wing, where Tunstead turned up again, on cue, to score in the corner.

As far a Cleck was concerned the game was now out of their reach. However, they did reply with a well-taken try after Martin Woodhead made ground in the centre to hand over to Owen Edwards to dot the ball down in the corner and add the goal via, the crossbar, in the 70th minute.

A final penalty from Haigh completed the scoring as Darlington continued their successful efforts to drag themselves out of the relegation zone.