Bradford Salem were given a scare at Roundhegians after trailing 6-0 at half time but rallied in the second half to take maximum points and strengthen their position at the top of SSE Yorkshire Division 2.

Although Salem started positively, they were dealt an early blow when Number 8 Marc Gibbons, playing his last game for the club before returning to New Zealand, had to leave the field with a leg injury. In spite of this set-back, the Bradford side was still very much on top and looked certain to score when winger Ryan Smith was put into space on the left. However, as he attempted to round the final defender, he was felled by a last-ditch ankle tap and the chance went begging.

Salem went on to create further scoring opportunities but were let down by a lack of patience. Then the inevitable happened as a loose pass was intercepted by the Roundhegians right winger and only a brilliant cover tackle from centre Dan Scarbrough prevented what would have been a try against the run of play.

The hosts , aided by a string of penalties in their favour, started to gain momentum and they took an unlikely 3-0 lead with a well-struck penalty.

Salem were then further disrupted as firstly second rower Dan Snowden had to leave the field with a chest injury and he was followed on the sidelines by replacement Number 8 Andrew Hanlon who sustained a head injury. The visitor's hastily reshuffled pack was coming under increasing pressure from a resurgent home pack and only the reintroduction of prop Simon Davies who had to pack down in the second row prevented a Roundhegians push-over.

Nevertheless, the Leeds side still managed to kick a second penalty to give themselves a 6-0 advantage at the break.

In his half time address, Salem's Director of Rugby Sam Gardner assured his players that if they stuck to the game plan and showed a bit more patience, they could turn things round and his words of encouragement seemed to hit home as his charges emerged a different side in the second half.

The league leaders started to put some patterns together but they missed another chance as replacement prop forward John Bradbury failed to gather a pass from Scarbrough with the line at his mercy.

Perhaps the turning point in the game came when 17 year old referee Jake Hill sent the Roundhegians second rower and skipper to the sin-bin and whilst the home side were down to 14 men, Salem scored 3 tries in quick succession as firstly Jamie Booth, who had moved from flanker to Number 8 forced his way over from a driving maul to reduce the deficit to a single point at 6-5. Salem then took the lead for the first time when a sweeping move which began in their own 22 was finished off in style by supporting open-side flanker Joe Fawcett, full-back Danny Belcher adding the extras to put the visitors 12-6 ahead. Then virtually straight from the restart more good handling in the backs put Smith clear on the right and the wingman just managed to evade the cover defence to squeeze over in the corner to extend the lead to 17-6 with a bonus point now on the cards.

Although it took a while to come, the league leaders got over for the all-important 4th try when Scarbrough, who could have scored himself, unselfishly passed the ball to supporting winger Connor Malarkey who coasted under the sticks for a fine try improved by Belcher to seal a 24-6 victory.

Salem have now opened up a gap of 8 points at the top of the table following second placed West Park Leeds' defeat at third placed West Leeds.