Huddersfield win bruising derby as Ionians race in for record triumph over Manchester

Producing their best rugby for some time, Huddersfield soon built on an early penalty from Chris Johnson when inside centre Thomas van Vuuren went over.

Johnson then claimed a try, which he converted and with Harrogate beginning to wilt under the pressure, the home fly-half extended their lead to 24-0 at the break with two more penalties and drop goal.

Harrogate improved their defence after the interval but another penalty from Johnson took his tally to 22 points.

With tempers boiling over at times, both sides lost two players to the sin-bin and Harrogate finally found a gap in the home defence when second-row Robert Almond forced his way over.

Hull were made to wait for their five league points in a scrappy 27-13 victory at the Ferens Ground.

James Cameron opened the scores after nine minutes with a 30m penalty for offside. Nuneaton responded with their own 30m penalty 10 minutes later by Jack Jolly.

But five minutes on and Hull scored the first try through some good pace down the left. Maea David passed out wide to Sione Onesi 20 metres out and after getting to the five, the last-ditch tackle meant he had to offload to Alex Piercy to finish off before Cameron missed the conversion.

Nuneaton came right back with a good solo try from Lee Chapman, who kicked and chased beyond the defence after some good possession in the Hull 25. Jolly converted to give Nuneaton the half- time lead.

Hull came back after nine minutes in the second half after a solid run from Rob Devonshire was supported by Robinson to the right corner. The ball went inside to winger Matt White to score from two metres before Cameron converted.

Nuneaton scored a penalty for offside after 63 minutes which lit the touch-paper for the last 10 minutes. Cameron scored a great passing try that began with a storming run from Dan Cook to the 25. From there, the ball went right via Tevita Vaikona and Robinson up to 10 metres before passing over the defence to the right touchline for Cameron to run in, although he missed the conversion.

Finally, in the last move of the game the Hull pack surged over from 15 metres with Onesi applying the final touch to double his tally and give Hull a fortunate bonus point.

Hull Ionians set a new 1st XV record of points to nil and points difference as they outclassed Manchester in all departments and scored five tries in each half in a 62-0 triumph.

Manchester supporters considered their team had played some of their best rugby this season but could not break a solid defence.

Straight from the kick-off, a break by Steve Slingsby forced an attacking lineout from which the pack drove over and Simon Jenkins touched down.

A yellow card saw the hosts short in the back row and Ionians scored three times in four minutes.

The pack drove over again for prop Albert Thundercliffe to touch down before Oli Marns became the first back to score to give Ionians a 33-0 lead at the break.

Straight from the restart, Manchester did not touch the ball, Mark Wigham leaping high to steal the kick-off before the ball was moved wide for Steve Slingsby to cross.

Stolen lineout ball set up James Ferguson to run in to add to his six conversions, then an attacking scrum sent Slingsby clear again. Replacement hooker Ally Forth also crossed before centre Shaun Leaf scored the final try for Ionians.

Morley suffered a morale-bruising 54-3 defeat at Westoe and still await their first points of the season.

Playing downhill and with a good wind behind them in the first half, injury-depleted Morley failed to make use of the conditions that were in their favour and found themselves 7-3 down at the break.

Charles Spon-Smith put the visitors ahead with a penalty after two minutes, but that proved to be all they were capable of in terms of their scoring for the afternoon.

Westoe went ahead with a try on the stroke of half-time and never looked back. The hosts added another seven scores after the break to add to No 10 Mark Bedworth's in the first half. Bedworth kicked all but one of the conversions, earning a 19 points haul.

Morley fought on but will need to regroup ahead of a daunting home game against league leaders Loughborough.