Yorkshire Division One: Moortown 27 Bradford Salem 17

BRADFORD Salem’s search for a first win in 2018 continued as they went down 27-17 at Moortown in their latest Yorkshire Division One fixture.

However, as in previous weeks, Salem were equal to their opponents for much of the game and, with a bit more luck, could have easily come away with a win.

They certainly started the game with a sense of purpose as multiple phases prevented Moortown from even getting a touch of the ball during the first two minutes.

Moortown eventually forced an error but they were then caught offside, with Salem fly half Andy Robinson kicking the resulting  penalty to give the visitors an early 3-0 lead.

Moortown missed a chance to draw level when a penalty attempt drifted wide of the uprights, but minutes later they took advantage of a poor Salem clearance kick as swift handling from a counter-attack created a try in the right corner to put them 5-3 ahead.

The home side then scored a carbon-copy try as their speedy winger punished another wayward kick to put the hosts 12-3 in front.

It was then Salem’s turn to benefit from poor kicking as winger Jake Abram went round his opposite number before passing to Conor Wood.

The powerful centre then showed deceptive pace as he held off the cover defence before crossing the line for a superb try that was improved by Robinson to reduce the arrears to 12-10 at the break.

Moortown seemed to increase the intensity in the second half and, after scoring from a blind-side move, they kicked a penalty to give themselves a 20-10 lead.

Two penalties in quick succession allowed Salem to launch a series of attacks in their opponent’s 22, and it looked like the pressure was going to tell when livewire scrum half James Simpson dived over the try-line.

However, a desperate last-ditch tackle somehow knocked the ball from his grasp and a golden opportunity went begging.

With Salem continuing to press, the turning point in the game came when, from five metres out, Simpson looked to pop a pass from the base of a maul.

However, despite the fact that he came from a suspiciously offside position, the ball went straight to a Moortown player, who raced 70 metres downfield before setting up a try to give the hosts a healthy 27-10 advantage.

Simpson made amends within five minutes as his quick tap penalty created sufficient room for second-rower Elliott Cousins to burst through a gap before putting skipper and No 8 Christian Baines over for a try, with Robinson landing the touchline conversion to get the visitors back to 27-17 with ten minutes to go.

Salem threw everything at Moortown in the final minutes, and it looked like they had earned a deserved bonus point as Robinson broke clear down the right flank.

However, the fly half chose to go himself rather than pass to the supporting Wood and was unfortunately dragged down short of the line.

Although Salem still managed to keep possession, the ball was then knocked on by Wood before referee Adam Robson blew for time.