North One East: Malton & Norton 56 Cleckheaton 5

CLECKHEATON opened their North One East season with their worst display for some time.

This should not detract from the performance of their opposition, however, as Malton & Norton showed determination and application throughout.

But, for some reason, while the home team hit the ground running from the first whistle, Cleckheaton were not even at the races.

Malton sprang into a 13-0 lead without Cleckheaton having any meaningful possession.

Two penalties, the first after just three minutes, sandwiched the home side’s opening try. Cleckheaton then contributed to their own misery by having two men – Alex Brown and James Wilson – sin-binned for unnecessary foul play.

With Cleckheaton depleted, Malton went in twice more before the break to turn around with a 25-0 advantage.

While Cleckheaton kept Malton at bay for the opening 10 minutes of the second half, unforced handling errors and poor kicking options gifted easy possession to the opposition.

Malton played fast-flowing rugby, off-loading the ball in tantalising fashion, and broke through Cleckheaton on a number of occasions.

When Cleckheaton opted to keep the ball in hand, they succumbed to turnover after turnover on a day where no one in the team really played well.

Malton racked up five more tries, four of which were scored before Cleckheaton finally got on the board with a rolling maul that was driven over from a line-out.

At 49-5, Cleckheaton were dejected and ready for the whistle.

To sum the day up, enthusiastic chasing of a kick from Malton and a mishandled bounce and failing to regather meant that the home side had the last word with a try under the sticks in the 80th minute.

The scoreboard, which remained on until the point at which Cleckheaton got back on their coach home, read 56-5 – a fair reflection on the performance of each side.