HUDDERSFIELD’S two Pennine League Premier Division sides have something to celebrate.
For the first time this season, the town’s top-flight teams were victorious over the same weekend.
While Slaithwaite Saracens were winning 34-10 at West Bowling, St Joseph’s secured their first success of the season, a whopping 38-4 home triumph over Clayton.
Slaithwaite’s win was their third of the campaign and helped them move into a comfortable mid-table position.
A great second-half performance was at the heart of their success against a very physical West Bowling side, with the Saracens cutting loose after holding a narrow 12-6 interval advantage.
And the visitors couldn’t have got off to a better start as they took the lead after just five minutes when Richard Flooks raced over for an unconverted try.
West Bowling quickly struck back to take the lead with a converted score, but for the rest of the half Slaithwaite were the dominant force.
Flooks added his second after 15 minutes and then, on the half hour, Courtney Allette latched on to a good pass to charge over, although all three conversions attempts failed due to the windy conditions to leave a six-point gap at the break.
But in the second half, the Huddersfield side took full control with further tries coming from Stuart Dunbar, Allette, Jadon Wood and man-of-the-match Damian Kenchington to put the icing on the cake after what had been a gutsy performance as he had been targeted for some very hard tackles.
Flooks also found his kicking boots to help give his side victory by a commanding 24-point margin.
This had been a vintage Saracens display, which helped them leapfrog their Bradford hosts.
Unfortunately, Joe’s remain rooted to the foot of the table after their impressive victory over Clayton.
But the success should give the men from Fartown a massive boost in confidence as they look to start to climb up the League ladder.
