Hawcoat too Strong

Clitheroe Cavaliers had the daunting task of facing League leaders Hawcoat Park 2nds on Hawcoats turf. With a youthful look to their lineup the Cavaliers were looking to bounce back from last weeks heavy defeat.
The game started brightly enough through a clever kick from fly half Simon Gretton. The forwards managed to gather ball from the perfectly weighted kick and took the game to the home team. A discretion to the left of the posts saw the visitors awarded a penalty, unfortunately this was missed by Linden Ross but it showed that the Cavaliers could certainly match the home team.
Hawcoat then switched on the gas with their strong running backs having an opportunity to open their legs. Their powerhouse inside centre was a handful and certainly took some stopping. This didn't deter the visitors from trying though and the back row of Harry Thompson, Scott Heptonstall and Ross made some crunching tackles.
Whilst Hawcoat managed to score afew tries the Cavaliers kept to the task in hand and tried to play Rugby at every opportunity. The half time score of 22 nil did not represent the effort that the Cavaliers had made. At half time the skipper welcomed Paul Proctor onto the pitch for his first game in 4 years; joining his brother Harry on the pitch Paul played good and hard as if he'd never been away from the game.
In the second half the Cavaliers asked some serious questions of the hosts and made them up their work rate. In response however they scored two more tries. This could have been significantly more if it hadn't been for the grit and determination of the Cavaliers. Hawcoat showed their class however and demonstrated why they are top of the league with their no nonsense hard, straight running.
With the clock winding down the Cavaliers one real opportunity to score a try was squandered when scrum half Brian Sutcliffe-Wood and winger Matt Bleasdale fumbled over the ball behind the try line with neither asserting their position to ground it. A real chance missed! A great game of rugby however which showed real tangible improvement from last week.
Next week Clitheroe host Hawcoat in the return fixture and they look forward to continuing proceedings in a positive manner.

by S.R.