Acklam 68 Hartlepool 5

Acklam had too much for a young Hartlepool team, scoring 10 tries for the second game in a row to take their unbeaten league record to 20 matches.
Acklam were on the attack straight from the kick off and opened the scoring in the 4th minute - winger Josh Abraham made good ground when he ran a Hartlepool clearance back into their half and the ball was recycled for full back Dean Roberts to score. Stand off Danny Ashton kicked a good conversion to give the home side an early 7 nil lead. A few minutes later Acklam got second phase possession after a lineout and Ashton threw a clever dummy to go over to score and double the lead. Then Abraham again latched on to a kick and ran superbly through two tackles before offloading for Marcus Sudron to score.
After 20 minutes Hartlepool again made the big mistake of kicking a clearance to Abraham - as always he made ground before passing inside. Again the ball was recycled and from the back of a ruck scrum half Len Hogg produced a moment of magic when he sidestepped three defenders to score under the posts. Then from the restart Ashton broke through with another dummy and was well supported by big second row Danny Moss who put Dean Roberts clear for his second try.
Hartlepool were eventually able to get on the scoreboard when following a couple of five metre scrums they scored in the corner to make it 33 -5. However, Acklam soon replied when centre Andy Dunn went through the middle and threw a dummy of his own to beat the last defender and score. Acklam's seventh try of the half came when number 8 Paddy O'Brien picked up at the back of the scrum and powerfully forced his way over the line, again converted by Ashton to give Acklam a huge 47 -5 lead at the break.
In the second half Abraham changed from provider to scorer, running in a twenty minute hat trick of tries. The first came when a set piece move released him to run past several defenders and score. Ten minutes later replacement winger Brad Gater fielded a clearance and the ball was quickly moved across the field to put Abraham clear. Finally, good defence by Acklam won the ball then put it out wide for Abraham to power away once more and score his third and Acklam's 10th try. To their credit Hartlepool fought hard and prevented any further scores. However Acklam were very happy with their resounding 68 - 5 victory, which means that they can clinch promotion in their next game, at North Shields in two weeks time.

Updated 11:55 - 31 Aug 2019 by Mark Collins