Victory is a huge bonus for Rockcliff

ROCKLIFF made light of the wet and windy conditions at the West Mills ground to defeat Bishop Auckland 53-19 and record another bonus point win in what was their third away game in a row.

The bonus point was secured in the first half, which saw the sides change ends with the Red and Golds leading 38-5.

Rockcliff got off to a perfect start when Dale Harrison opened the scoring straight from the kick-off, turning the ball over and romping home - converted by Michael Hansen for 7-0.

Three minutes later Harry Ramage broke through five tackles on the wing to set up Alex Hayton to score.

The game settled down and it was another 20 minutes before the next score when Liam Bowman bullocked through the home defence to touch down under the posts.

Hansen added the extras to make it 19-0.

Three minutes later Bowman finished off a catch and drive move from a lineout to score the all-important fourth try.

Hansen was on target again with the conversion and Rockcliff enjoyed a 26 0 lead.

Ramage did the damage again down the wing, this time setting up Dan O’Sullivan to score - with Hansen adding the extras for 33-0.

Bishop Auckland then got on the scoresheet with an unvconverted try following a break from a five-metre scrum but Rockcliff had the last word of the half when Rob Hamilton crossed for 38-0.

Hamilton scored again early in the second half to keep the momentum up and then Jamie Fenwick side stepped through the defence for a debut try and 48-5.

Bishop Auckland were not going down without a fight, though, and in a ten-minute spell scored two tries - one converted - to pull back the score to 48-19 with 15 minutes left.

With five minutes to go, O’Sullivan ghosted through the Bishop Auckland defence to score his second try of the game and the game closed out with Rockcliff easy winners.

Next weekend Rockcliff return to action at Hillheads when they face promotion rivals Sunderland. ■■BLAYDON slumped to a second defeat of the season in the Northern Premier Division after a disappointing performance at Sandal. They lost 43-33 and remain in third place in the table.