Old Rishworthians 15 Bradford Salem 31

Bradford Salem continued their winning ways in Counties 1 Yorkshire with a well-earned 31-15 win at Old Rishworthians to maintain their slender one point lead at the top of the table.

On a heavy pitch at Copley, Salem conceded 5 penalties in the opening 6 minutes, and, although Rish full back Rangi Kui missed his first attempt at goal he soon made amends with his second as the home side took an early 3-0 lead.

Kui missed an opportunity to extend his sides advantage after referee Nia Parsonage awarded the home side a sixth successive penalty, but , with 15 minutes gone, Salem were finally given a penalty of their own, Andy Robinson's touch-finder getting the visitors to within 10 metres of their opponent's line. From the resulting line-out, Dom Bailey, playing in his 50th game for the club, set up a driving maul, and, when the ball was moved right, Robinson found Tom Cummins on a superb angled run and the Number 8 and Salem man of the match bumped off the last defender to score a fine try improved by Jake Green to put the Bradford side 7-3 in front.

Salem were back on the attack straight from the restart, and, following a strong carry from Morgan Mirzaali and an intelligent kick by Robinson, Fijian winger Adrea Vasuitoga went over in the left corner to score his 3rd try in only his second 1st Team appearance to put the visitors 12-3 ahead.

Salem, at this point, were clearly getting on top, and extended their lead to 19-3 when prop Conor Wood powered over after good work by skipper Christian Baines.

Although, Salem continued to dominate, their progress was thwarted by another string of penalties against them and they did well to prevent Rish from scoring just before the break.

However, as the second half got underway, 2 further penalties in their favour enabled Rish to pile on the pressure and they scored following a quick tap, Kui adding the extras to reduce the deficit to 19-10.

Salem responded positively as they started to get the upper-hand in the scrums. This allowed the Heaton side to play a more expansive game and, after some punishing runs in midfield, winger Aaron Magee showed great strength and footwork to cross for a try which Green improved to take the score to 26-10.

Salem were now playing some excellent rugby and a looping Robinson pass found Mirzaali in space down the left flank. Then, after Fin Southcott and Isaac Lickley both went close, scrum half Callum Smith was on hand to score his sides fifth try for an unassailable 31-10 lead
with just under 10 minutes remaining.

Although an uncharacteristic mistake by Salem gifted Rish a breakaway try to reduce the arrears to 31-15, the visitors were more than happy to gain the 5 points they had targeted to keep their promotion aspirations on track.