POCKLINGTON secured successive victories in the North One East after securing a 20-7 win over Cleckheaton, writes Phil Gilbank.

Despite Cleckheaton arriving at Percy Road five places higher than Pocklington, the home side's forward went toe-to-toe with the opposition pack from the outset, with the two sides slugging it out to protect the ball and gain field position.

The best attack of the first half saw home centre Sam Pattison slicing through in midfield.

But strong defence ensured that the deadlock remained unbroken until the end of the first quarter when Christian Pollock kicked a straightforward penalty for offside.

Having worked so hard to get their noses in front, Pocklington immediately handed Cleckheaton the lead on a plate.

On the restart, a forced pass saw the ball dropped in front of the home posts and from the resultant scrum Cleckheaton strolled over for a 7-3 lead.

The arrival of Euan Walker and Tom Green as front row replacements then changed the momentum in Pock's favour.

Cleckheaton were shunted back at a scrum and the ball squirted loose for David Davison to hack on.

As the Pock forwards drove to the line, a penalty try was awarded for a 10-7 advantage.

It remained anyone's game but Pocklington's tackling remained firm and threequarters Dan Elliot, Jed Jackson and Tom Richardson sparked a mercurial raid from deep in their own half that was finally halted by desperate scrambling defence.

At the other end, Cleckheaton had their moments but were never allowed attacking field position, and a moment of opportunism from the irrepressible Jackson gave Pocklington clear water inside the last 10 minutes.

Cleckheaton attempted a favourite attacking cross-kick, but wing Jackson plucked it out of the air in front of the clubhouse, then roared on by the home crowd outpaced the cover and cut inside to the posts on a 70-metre dash to the posts.

Pollock's conversion made it 17-7.

Pocklington buckled down to another stint of strong carries and determined tackling in their own territory, then broke out to make the game safe with a further Pollock penalty before efficiently running down the clock for a well deserved win.

There was massive disappointment for Pocklington players, Albert Onelei, when his Samoa international debut at Twickenham was thwarted by coronavirus.

After a week of training, Onelei was in the changing room raring to go when the game was called off just 90 minutes before kick-off as the Barbarians squad reported four positive coronavirus tests.