SIMON Markey may, at 46, have thought that he had seen most things on a rugby union field.

But the Bradford Salem hooker managed to put a new sentence on his CV in their Yorkshire One match at home to Old Rishworthians on Saturday – playing in every position in the front row on the same afternoon.

And the veteran could reflect on a job well done, as Salem moved off the bottom with a battling 22-13 win.

Markey laughed, saying: “I will be very sore but it was enjoyable, very enjoyable.”

In foggy conditions, depleted Salem made a bad start when their visitors from Halifax went 10-0 ahead inside 11 minutes.

Rish’s points came via a Josh Kelly penalty and a converted Lewis Taylor try and, despite a penalty by Salem full-back Callum Smith, Rish led 13-3 at the break via another Kelly penalty.

The sin-binning of Rish No.8 Manu Tusiga in first-half stoppage time proved to be of great significance however.

Salem quickly got back in the contest after the break when centre Morgan Mirzaali made good yardage in a concerted attack and fly-half Glenn Morrison plunged over from short range.

Smith’s conversion went over via the far upright, and the deficit was down to just three points.

Tusiga had only been back on the field for two minutes when the home team took a quick tap.

Winger Ben Shaw was the swift-thinking Salem player, and Tusiga’s interference inside 10 metres led to a second yellow card and therefore a red.

On the hour, Markey and fellow veteran John Bradbury drove deep into Rish territory, allowing lock Oliver Leadbeater to score Salem’s second try, with Smith’s conversion putting the hosts 17-13 ahead.

Salem’s kicking improved late on, finding touch or spaces in behind the Rish defence as the game entered the closing stages.

With six minutes left, Salem were held up over the line, forcing a goal-line drop-out, and three minutes later came the killer blow.

Markey fed stand-in skipper Jamie Simpson and the scrum-half dummied to pass inside, which gave him the space to go over in the corner, denying the visitors a losing bonus point.

Front-rower Markey said: “We dug deep and turned the corner.

“We have got out of the habit of losing, the young lads are really maturing and they are believing in themselves.

“We train hard, practice the pick-and-go and mauling and it is paying off, and Simmo captained the side very well.

“Our kicking out of hand could have been better and our handling could have been better but how many 18 or 19-year-old lads did we have on the pitch?”

As for the rest of the season, Markey said: “We will have Christian Baines back, Ben Whitaker back, Sam Savage back, Isaac Lickley back and possibly other lads joining us.

“We’ve only been beaten comprehensively this season at Beverley and we have been leading in six matches at half-time. I think we will finish mid-table.”

In North One East, Bradford & Bingley’s game at Pocklington was called off due to the ongoing Covid uncertainty in the country, but Cleckheaton did play, thumping Consett 34-7 at home.

Neither Baildon nor Old Grovians played in Yorkshire Two, but Keighley did, drawing 22-22 at title rivals Hullensians.

Skipton had an away walkover win over Wibsey in Yorkshire Three, due to Covid complications within the Bradford side’s camp.