Old Brodleians 46 Skipton 5

With both teams already guaranteed promotion the tension had gone out of this game but with Brods totally unbeaten in the league this season they showed their supremacy with an easy win over the Reds who were far from their best.

The Halifax-based hosts are noted for their forward power but on Saturday it was their backs who did the damage.

Playing in rare dry conditions their backs were like bullets out of a gun every time they got the ball and sloppy tackling by Skipton enabled them to run up a high score.

In reality the game was more evenly matched than the score suggests, particularly in the first half.

The match started well for Skipton and they were 5-0 in the lead after five minutes after winger Liam Ray zipped in for an opportunist try.

Indeed in these early stages Brods looked nervous and were probably tense about their unbeaten record going adrift in front of a large home crowd.

Gradually Brods got the upper hand and the Reds' cause was not helped by the early loss with injury of influential centre Brydon Maiava followed by team captain Darren Howson and then prop John Firth. Nevertheless, with a scoreline of 17-5 at half time this was still a good contest.

However, the second half opened with Brods showing why they are unbeaten league champions and in a fifteen minute spell time and time again their potent backs evaded Skipton's defence to gain tries and very quickly it was looking like a rout.

But then the Reds fought back and certainly Skipton's forwards were gaining ground on their opponents. Ryan Binner and Rick Willsher having come on as replacements seemed to breathe new energy into the pack and man of the match Moa Meki seemed to find new reserves of energy.

This in turn spurred on the backs. Adam Oldfield as always was influential, Sean Kennedy had an outstanding game at stand-off and the back line of Liam Ray, James Burke, Jon Dillon and Mark Battle were starting to be a real threat to Brods.

For the last 20 minutes of the game it returned to being a genuine top of the table clash.

Three times in this final stage, Skipton's forward power and fast following backs got the Reds within inches of making the score respectable but it was one of those days when all the luck went to the victors.

However, there was no denying that the league champions were the better side and Skipton need not be too disappointed by this result.

12:20pm Thursday 17th April 2008

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