Cleckheaton 32, West Hartlepool 17

Cleckheaton prop Chris Piper was one of those involved in a touchline scuffle near the end of this SSE North One East contest on the balmiest of October afternoons - but little seems to faze the Moorenders these days.

This was their sixth win in as many league matches this season and they only conceded one try when they suffered two yellow cards in quick succession towards the end of the first half.

The aforementioned Piper was sin-binned in the 28th minute for boring in, and replacement forward Alex Dawson was yellow-carded eight minutes later for taking a man out in a line-out.

But Cleckheaton, who came into the match in third place, just drew on the inner confidence and self belief that has been engendered by their run of wins to only allow second-placed West Hartlepool a Peter Youll try in the 33rd minute when the latter had superior numbers.

The only dodgy moment for the hosts came when the north easterners scored a converted try in the left corner with ten minutes remaining to cut the deficit to 29-17.

But Cleckheaton spent most of the time left either in midfield or in the visitors’ 22, adding a Ross Hayden penalty in injury time to bump their score past the 30 mark.

West Hartlepool have won all three of their home matches this season but this was their second defeat in four away trips, and they were quickly made aware of the size of their task at Moorend.

A catch and drive from a line-out in the second minute led to the almost inevitable outcome of a try for Cleckheaton No 8 Richard Piper.

Having survived a wild pass in defence from Michael Piper and an accidental blow to the back of Richard Piper’s head from a team-mate, West Hartlepool were penalised for not rolling away in the tackle in the 17th minute, and Richard Piper bagged his second catch-and-drive try from the resulting line-out, Hayden’s conversion making it 12-0.

Youll’s surging run on a diagonal after a fine Andy Cheslin break gave West some hope and it needed a crucial tackle by centre Michael Piper to deny them a second try as the half drew to a close.

But there was still time for Hayden to miss a penalty from just inside the Hartlepool half in what was the last action of the stanza.

Cleckheaton resumed control in the second half, centre James Marshall almost breaking through after a sublime pass from player-coach Rob Afoa Petersen in the 41st minute.

The reprieve was short-lived, however, Richard Piper bursting through a sizeable hole in West’s ranks to claim his hat-trick try a minute later.

The No 8 turned creator in the 53rd minute, breaking away to put pacy scrum half Jack Bickerdike in for a try with a move that was both simple and deadly.

Hayden converted both to make it 26-5 and added two late penalties to wrap up the home scoring, West responding with tries by prop Adam Coates, from a superb Stu Waites pass, and replacement Andy Turner, which Waites converted.

Cleckheaton are up to second, equal on points with leaders Pocklington but with a game in hand.

Afoa Petersen, who moved from Otley in the summer, said: “This was one of our best performances of the season. I am enjoying it down here and there is a good rugby culture.”