Old Crossleyans RUFC

Old Crossleyans faced off against league leaders and last year's Yorkshire One champions, Bradford Salem at Shay Lane, marking an intriguing chapter in Bradford Salem’s centenary season.

Before yesterday’s game, the record between Bradford Salem and Old Crossleyans stood at 52 encounters over the course of more than 100 years. Old Crossleyans have traditionally dominated the fixture, winning all but 9 of those 52 meetings.

Although Crocs dominated possession and came close to scoring several times, they were unable to convert any of their opportunities into points. Despite the home team receiving three yellow cards throughout the match, Crocs still failed to find a way over the try line.

At half time the home team were just 7-0 up, Crocs having missed an early penalty opportunity. It looked as though Crocs could have pulled off a shock victory but two early converted second half tries by Salem made the task almost insurmountable.

The physical disparity between the two sides was particularly noticeable, especially in the backs where Salem looked to have a big weight advantage.

Old Crossleyans director of rugby Jon Bake said ‘Every player showed 100% commitment against a big team that usually steamroller people, we didn't give them that opportunity. The discipline was excellent and credit to Bradford Salem who scored excellent tries, two of which were particularly impressive.’