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Doncaster Knights made the short journey to the Cleckheaton Sports Club complex, offering potential a potential debut for Steve Slingsby and Canadian U21 International Andrew Wilson in West Yorkshire. The resulting 61 – 3 points win for the Knights was from a combination of strong running with the ball in hand and an almost water tight defence, leaving Cleckheaton with little opportunity to score other than their first half penalty.
Tom Luke and Mark Woodrow seemed happy to showboat for the first 5 mins, ambitious touches and kicks not producing any points but entertaining the crowd as the ball whizzed around the pitch. A returning Dan Storey began the move for opening points by strongly pulling the ball out of the scrum and shipping it wide to the right with a pinpoint pass that hit Paul Bailey square in the chest, He then outstripped six players to place the ball down around 8m to the right of the posts for Woodrow to successfully convert. This set the tone for the evening, as apart from the 11 minute penalty Cleckheaton took no part in the scoring.
Justin Bishop and Donovan Van Vuuren took the creative responsibility during the first half, although the following try came directly from a Luke Gross dominated line out. Gross calmly took the ball and initiate a maul that was driven patiently for 8 – 10 m and eventually saw Toma Toke open his account for the evening on 13 mins. Woodrow added the points before a passage of frustrating play saw stout defence from Cleckheaton deny any further opportunities until later in the half.
Throughout the half Andrew Wilson had impressed, showing a hunger for the game and a keen eye for reading passages of play defensively. For a debutante he showed an understanding, particularly with Planchant , that must have given his Director of rugby confidence. His reward was a try on 34 minutes that was wide out on the left wing and left Woodrow with his first real challenge of the evening which was successfully converted. The kick from the left wing sailed over almost centrally and could not have been better placed.
Another feature of the half was Paul Bailey’s almost total dominance of whatever section of the pitch he played in, supporting Bishop at full back with take after take, making devastating yards with ball in hand. As the half drew to a close the unselfish creativity of Justin Bishop and the willing contribution of Andrew Wilson had made for an enjoyable evening of rugby.
With the visitors firmly in charge of the game a return to form for Ollie Cook saw another wonder try. Bryn Griffiths rode a tackle centrally and played the simplest of passes to Cook who proceeded to tear through the Cleckheaton defence. Showing top level acceleration Cook placed the ball down leaving a wake of players behind him wondering what had just hit, and passed them. Oliver Cook then followed up this feat receiving a textbook pass from Brad Hunt on the left wing he ran powerfully inside to place the ball down 10m to the left of the post. All of this occurred within the first 11 mins of the second half and stepped up the intensity in a game which had already been very easy on the eyes. The introduction of Steve Slingsby on 65 mins saw Donovan Van Vuuren make way for the young player, but still try to guide creativity from the sidelines.
Throughout this game Tom Luke had been a livewire, when not making fast yardage with punishing runs he was involved In the physical side of the game. His second half try on 61 mins highlighted the effect of his direct style on the Cleckheaton hosts, seeming taking on the whole opposing line without fear and placing the ball over the line at pace to increase the points.
The final drama in a game that was surely worth the enrance fee was the unselfish nature of our backs coach Justin Bishop almost handing Paul Bailey his hat trick. Bishop hitting the line like a rocket , and the covering winger due to poor judgement, managed to offloaf to Bailey on the right at the moment of impact. Had Bailey received the ball at a better height the hat trick would surely have been on as he had terrorised the wings all evening.
The game itself never seemed to lack passion or commitment, and while at time the Knights seemed to showboat with ambitious passes it came over as a relaxed performance, not an arrogant one. A chance to play some rugby and enjoy themselves seemed to be a needed tonic for the South Yorkshire side. It is yet to be seen whether Andrew Wilson will make the cut for a performance against Rotherham Titans or the might of Exeter Chiefs but on this showing, he will be causing selection headaches for Lynn Howells.
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