Cleckheaton 12

West Park St Helens 21

At 9am on Saturday, Cleckheaton's pitch was unplayable.

But after a couple of hours' forking by diligent helpers to get rid of four inches of standing water in parts, the game was on.

However, following what was largely an uninspiring home performance, the forkers must have been questioning their hard work.

About the only saving grace for Cleckheaton was the performance of their No 8 Richard Sawyer, whose two tries briefly gave his team a glimmer of hope midway through the second half.

The 24-year-old Rotherham Academy product, who has scored seven tries in his last four matches for Cleckheaton, said: "It was frustrating because I thought we were the better side but they had the better tactics."

Cleckheaton trailed 21-0 at half-time with Amersham-raised Sawyer admitting: "We didn't have a lot of territory or possession in the first half and that told in the scoreline."

And despite Sawyer's rapid brace, he said: "In the second half, when we had the breeze behind us, we didn't execute as well as we should have done. The lads know that they should have done better and hopefully we will in the matches coming up."

As for his second brace of tries to add to an earlier hat-trick, Sawyer said: "I am just the glory boy at the minute but all the lads are working hard and I am just the person who happens to be finishing them off at the moment."

Rotherham's Academy side, which is managed by Cleckheaton old boy Craig West, struggle to give Sawyer and Cleckheaton scrum half Alex Drage enough consistent game-time.

Back-rower Sawyer, who moved to Yorkshire five years ago to study at Sheffield Hallam University, said: "I am enjoying playing at what is a very friendly club and getting on the pitch.

"We have some good lads here and some good coaches and I honestly believe that we are better than the table shows. We have lost a lot of games we shouldn't have, and I include this in that category, but I am optimistic for the rest of the season."

As for West Park, it was their first away win of the season (in five attempts) and moved them above Cleckheaton.

The visitors got first-half tries from winger Mark Turner, centre Sam Reay and flanker Peter Evans, Andrew Soutar converting all three, and had No 8 Matt Henwood sin-binned in the second half, when home fly half Chris Quinn improved Sawyer's first try.