Bradford Salem in great spirits as Moortown put to sword

It isn’t just that the Heaton club have been winning for most of the past 14 months, it is the bond that the players have built - both with themselves and coaches Bob Hood, Craig Bartlett and Andy Robinson.

After their treble last season of Counties One Yorkshire, Yorkshire Shield and Papa Johns Community North One Plate, Salem have adapted seamlessly to life in Regional Two North East, where they are back on top on points difference from Old Brodlieans after Rochdale’s 33-20 defeat at Scarborough.

Despite scoring a hat-trick on Saturday in the 55-8 home defeat of Moortown, hooker Brown was quick to deflect praise from himself to the rest of the team.

The 32-year-old said: “Most definitely this has been the most enjoyable (time of my career).

“Salem are a great club and we are going forward.

“It has been a tad harder in stages this season and we haven’t played to our game-plan fully, but we have learnt how to win and grind games out.

“You play to win, it is nice to get silverware and those memories don’t go away.”

After falling behind to an early try, sixth-placed Moortown then had a period of dominance, but only came away with three points.

Brown explained: “There is a bit of dog in the lads and we like to defend and be physical, and that is credit to all of them.

“We are a great bunch of lads and we are all mates and it is great to play rugby with your mates.

“Also Bob gives us a game-plan and we execute it.

“We concentrate on how we play and not how other teams play, and our fitness shows up in the last 20 minutes.

“The team spirit is there too, everybody is happy and it is good fun.”

As for the rest of the season, Brown said: “When you step over that whitewash you just want to win, but we are taking it week by week.

“We will assess things at Christmas and our ambition is to have 40 league points by then (they already have 30), but the way we are playing we should beat that and then we will see where we are.”

Salem gave home debuts to winger Jake McFarlin and lock Keelan Foster on Saturday, while Moortown remarkably gave 54-year-old prop Paul Tharme his bow.

Jake McFarlin charges towards the Moortown defence on his Salem debut. (Image: Alex Daniel.)

And the desire to keep up their winning run was strong for the Bradford side, who need to be in the top two by Christmas to qualify for the Papa Johns again.

But the only time a victory was not in doubt on a sun-kissed afternoon at Shay Lane was when Moortown had that period of dominance after the hosts had scored their first try.

Salem went ahead in the second minute with Brown’s first try, following a line-out after Moortown were offside.

But the Leeds visitors’ response was good and they got on the scoreboard five minutes later with a penalty by fly half Archie Haddon after Salem had been penalised.

The hosts also survived a 40-20 by Dylan Wepener, the full back then missing a long but straight penalty in the 19th minute after a high tackle.

Salem had conceded six penalties by the time lock Dom Bailey was sin-binned for a late tackle two minutes later, but Moortown also had a player binned in the 34th minute.

And with that advantage, the home side cashed in with three tries before half-time to virtually seal victory.

Former Wibsey and Bees front-rower Brown bagged his second try, again following a line-out, and Moortown had debutant Maurizio Tokro yellow carded six minutes later for offside after Salem prop Isaac Lickley had been held up over the line.

There was no reprieve for Moortown as home skipper Christian Baines crashed over on the left, and Brown’s former Wibsey team-mate Conor Wood, who was named man-of-the-match, bounced a Moortown tackler away to score their bonus-point try six minutes into stoppage time.

The superb Conor Wood put Salem virtually out of reach deep into first-half stoppage-time. (Image: Alex Daniel.)

Scrum half Callum Smith added his second conversion of the game to make the score 24-3, leaving Moortown with little help of getting back into the game.

Moortown did get the first try of the second half after Salem centre Seb Ikahihifo had been sin-binned by referee David Rhodes for a high tackle, flanker Antun Wilson crashing over on the right.

But Salem mounted their usual strong finish to score the last five tries, starting with centre Suaia Matagi.

He was tackled short but was able to pick the ball up again after being released to score in the 54th minute, fly half Robinson landing the conversion after being handed the kicking duties.

Moortown were again left short-handed after a deliberate knock on to prevent a try-scoring opportunity, and Brown bagged his hat-trick in the 58th minute to make the score 36-8.

Ten minutes later Robinson was over, also adding the conversion, and six minutes later Tharme was sent to the bin.

Andy Robinson scored one of Salem's five second-half tries in their big win. (Image: Alex Daniel.)

Wood completed his brace a minute later, Robinson bringing up the half century with the conversion, and Charnock had the last word.

He scored the final try of the game in the 77th minute after a breath-taking charge down the left from a Smith pass near halfway.

Up in Regional One North East, Cleckheaton moved into seventh after a 40-27 victory over fellow mid-table side Driffield.

Keighley, Baildon and Bradford & Bingley all had the weekend off.