Huddersfield and Ionians rally but Morley are left in trouble

Huddersfield 24 Luctonians 15

Huddersfield survived a mediocre first-half display to come from 8-0 down and take the win.

Luctonians landed a penalty and unconverted try in a half in which Huddersfield picked up two yellow cards. The visitors, who are above Huddersfield in the table, also had one sin-binning and more significantly, picked up three injuries.

After the break, the hosts got their act together and flanker Nicholas Sharp, popped up on the wing to force his way over the line. Chris Johnson’s conversion brought his side to within a point.

That score rallied Huddersfield and they took the lead with another fine piece of rugby four minutes later. Lee Brown made the break and offloaded to winger Adam Sutcliffe, who grounded the ball, Johnson again converting.

Hooker Ben Morrell was the next to cross and Johnson’s conversion put his side firmly in control at 21-8.

Johnson added another penalty on 65 minutes to make sure the score was out of reach for Luctonians, who did manage to pull back a converted try with eight minutes remaining.

Hull Ionians 42 Kendal 11

Hull Ionians won comfortably in classic style with the forwards deciding the result and the backs deciding by how many.

The first half was a disjointed affair with a penalty count of 12-2 in favour of Kendal, who took the lead through Mark Ireland.

Ionians’ one good move saw Mark Duxbury make ground, Steve Quigley drive to the line and Adam Thomas dart between the posts for James Ferguson to convert before adding a penalty.

Ireland’s second penalty just before the break made it 10-6.

The second half was dominated by Ionians. Good recycling set up Oli Marns to finish before he ran from his 22 to release Duxbury to finish in the corner. Ferguson added a penalty then Joe Makin charged through and released quick ball for Adam Thomas to send Gary Stephenson clear.

A penalty gave Ionians an attacking line-out and Marns was released to score again.

Under pressure, Kendal passed wide in their 22 and Stephenson intercepted for his second try., Ferguson converted the last two.

Kendal gained consolation with a try by replacement Leo Mercer.

Preston Grasshoppers 30 Morley 17

Morley conceded two late tries in as many minutes to crash to defeat and miss the chance to climb out of the bottom three and above Nuneaton.

The lead changed hands several times and it was the home side who started the scoring with a penalty before Morley scored an unconverted try courtesy of winger Peter Martin.

Preston hit back with an unconverted score but their 10-5 lead was once again short-lived as flanker Tom Moody went over and Mark Pease converted.

Five minutes from the break, the hosts converted their second penalty to go into the interval with a one-point lead.

After half-time, they extended that advantage with another penalty only for Morley to hit back when right winger Koby Gyasi raced over.

Morley felt they had extended their lead but the referee ruled that the ball had not been grounded properly and Preston went straight down the other end and scored. A minute later, Morley lost possession to allow Preston to race the full length of the field for the killer score.

Rugby Lions 0 Harrogate 25

Rugby conceded a record-breaking 99 points to Harrogate in October but they have recruited strongly since then so that score was never going to be replicated.

In the event, Harrogate stuttered to an unconvincing 5-0 half-time lead before taking control in the second half.

Harrogate attacked from the outset and Jamie Broadley seemed certain to score his 23rd League try of the season. He burst through some attempted midfield tackles and sped for the line with only full-back Matt Mountford to beat. However, Mountford put in a try-saving tackle to force him into touch.

Harrogate continued to attack with outstanding flankers Alex Rieder and Dan Harland at the heart of everything.

With 10 minutes gone, Harland supported and powered over for the only score of the half.

Shortly afterwards, prop Jimmy Browne had to leave the field with a cut ear which could no’t be stitched as Rugby didn’t have a doctor on hand. Browne returned for a spell before retiring from the action.

The pattern of the game changed when second-row Jake Brady was dispatched to the sin-bin.

Rugby were then able to exert pressure and when Harland was also binned, the remaining 13 Harrogate players had to defend desperately for the last eight minutes of the half.

Rugby still had a two-man advantage at the restart but Harrogate debutant winger Arnie Ellison outstripped the cover to score in the corner.

Harrogate’s best back of the day, Sam Bottomley, then cut through to score an excellent try.