The Cav’s penultimate game of the season was the local derby at Cleckheaton. With Selby having received a walkover in their final league game then the Cavs knew that victory in their last 2 league games would see them win the league. Both teams were able to name strong line-ups and, as it always is at Cleck’, everyone knew it would be a tough match.
Our basic game plan against Cleck’ is always the same. They’re bigger than we are, so we need to keep them out of our 22 to minimise their opportunities close to the line. To do that, we need to keep the penalties conceded to an absolute minimum. When we have the ball, we’ll try to run them about in an effort to tire them out.

The Cavs started well and were rewarded with a penalty under the sticks within the opening 2 minutes which Frankie successfully converted. 0-3

From the resulting kick off the Cavs were probably guilty of playing too much rugby in our own half and eventually a knock on gave possession to Cleck’. The first penalty soon followed as Morley were penalised at the breakdown.

Unfortunately, this was going to turn out to be a common occurrence as the Cavs seemed unable to get their head around what the ref would and wouldn’t allow. Essentially, he wanted the tackler to have rolled away before the jackal was attempted. The Cavs made numerous successful jackals throughout the game but I’d estimate that at least half of them ended up with a penalty being awarded to Cleck’.

Not surprisingly, Cleck’ kicked to the corner and went for the catch and drive. Morley repelled this but the ref ruled that the backs, on the far side of the field to where the line out was taken, were offside and the ref awarded another penalty to Cleck’. Again, penalties for offside would turn out to be a recurring issue for the Cavs. Cleck’ went for the tap this time and whilst the Cavs initially kept them out, eventually a big ’un ran at a little ’un and they crashed over. Conversion missed 5-3.

For the next 20 minutes the Cavs had the ascendency in both possession and territory but were guilty of going too wide too early so, despite having opportunities, they were unable to score. Eventually, the Cavs were penalised for holding on and Cleck’ kicked for the corner. They set up for the catch and drive but spun it immediately to their biggest player who ran a great crash ball line to score. Conversion missed, 10-3.

From the subsequent kick off Morley were pinged for being offside! Morley recovered and were awarded a penalty on the Cleck’ 22 but Frankie could resist having a chelp and the ref
overturned the penalty and marched us back 20 metres to boot. These two incidents pretty
much sum up the story of the match, authors of our own downfall!

We backed that penalty up by conceding another one for an unsuccessful jackal. We then regained possession with a successful jackal in our own 22 but then proceeded to drop the ball. A couple of penalties for offside followed before, inevitably, Cleck’ crashed over close to the sticks…just how many opportunities did we want to give them? Conversion was
successful 17-3.

Morley again had the better of the last 10 minutes but again were too impatient in going too wide too soon and the scored remained 17-3 at half time.

Despite making a few subs at half time and Pete giving the boys some “motivational words”, the 2nd half started in much the same vein. This time the Cavs were penalised for the forwards not retreating as we cleared our lines following Cleck’s kick off. At least there was some variety in the penalties we were conceding! The lads then had to endure a sustained period of Cleck’ pressure and did well to keep Cleck out.

10 minutes into the half, Morley found themselves with a scrum on Cleck’s 22. A pre-planned move saw winger Will Kinder come off his wing to collect the ball from fly half Frankie and he proceeded to slice through the Cleck’ defence and score under the sticks. Frankie converted 17-10

7 minutes later and the scores were level. Cleck’ conceded back to back penalties which gave Morley possession deep in the Cleck’ 22. After several failed attempts to barge over, Ben Fink latched on to a strong running Morgan and managed to force him over for the score. Frankie converted, 17-17.

Halfway through the second half Morley found themselves ahead, as Frankie dropped a goal from dead centre of the Cleck’ 22 line. 17-20.

The next 10 minutes were fairly even with both sides having opportunities and both sides conceding lots of penalties whenever they had to defend.

The turning point in the game came with 10 minutes to go with Cleck deep in the corner of their 22. They tried a kick to clear their lines towards the open side of the field and it only just scraped over the 22. Fortunately for Cleck’ the ball fell well short of the Morley backfield defenders and a very fortuitous bounce saw the ball fall into Cleck’ hands which allowed them to break away and only a great covering tackle from Will Kinder prevented Cleck’ from scoring.

Morley did well to get back; Ed Kelly cleverly stripped the ball from an upright ball carrier only for the ref to award a penalty. Cleck’ kicked to the corner and after a couple of goes they managed to crash over. Conversion missed 22-20.

With not long left, the Cavs had to compete for the ball and unfortunately the ref ran out of patience and yellow carded Kieran Holliday for one too many jackal penalties.

Cleck’ kicked to the Morley 22. From the next play Morley were penalised for offside and Cleck’ kicked to the corner for the catch and drive. Morley got a great hit on the ensuing maul, probably too good a hit as it twisted rapidly round and allowed Cleck’ a simple opportunity to score. Crucially the conversion just scraped over, 29-20.

To their credit, the Cavs did not let their heads drop and had the last word as captain Ian Webber scored in the corner after a period of sustained pressure from both backs and forward alike. Frankie converted and the game finished 29-27.

It was a game that the Cavs could easily have won but they simply didn’t play smart rugby. Virtually every Cleck’ try was a result of Morley conceding a penalty and they simply didn’t learn their lessons. In attack, they looked to score too early and consistently bypassed pods of forwards to send the ball out wide before the Cleck’ defence had been sufficiently drawn in. There wasn’t much patience on show today!

It’s a tough lesson but one that the Cavs need to learn from. Nevertheless, they’ve still had an excellent season, one that they can be proud of. Cleck’ voted for Frankie as MoM.

The losing bonus point leaves Morley 5pts behind Selby with Morley having 1 more game to play. Even if Morley secure all 5 points from that final game it will mean that both sides will finish on 69 points with the exact same playing record (13 wins and 3 defeats from 16 games played). However, Selby’s massive points difference advantage will see them finish as league winners and we offer them our congratulations after what has been a hard fought, season long, battle between the two sides.

1 George Huscavitch, 2 Sam Godfrey, 3 Harry Ward, 4 Matt Gilman, 5 Josh Self, 6 Rupert Fink, 7 Kieran Holiday, 8 Ed Kelly, 9 Adam Summers, 10 Charlie Frankland, 11 Dan Basquill, 12 Harrison Baylis, 13 James Surtees, 14 Will Kinder, 15 Ian Leigh Webber, 16 Morgan Hall, 17 Ian Craigen, 18 Kieran Ellis, 19 Ben Fink, 20 Ben Hall, 21 James Pearson
UTC
Dave Gilman

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Cav's v Cleck'