Hull to claim bragging rights after jumping on Grasshoppers

Hull 38 Preston Grasshoppers 21

Hull’s victory keeps them in the frame to finish as the top Yorkshire club in the division.

Matt White scored after three minutes as he collected Ollie Hardisty’s offload on the left wing to run in before Greg Lound converted.

Alex Campbell scored in his first game of the season after 10 minutes, finishing a catch and drive from the 22 before Lound’s successful conversion.

Tom Hughes countered for Preston as he tracked Mark Edwards run from halfway and took the pass to finish before Edwards converted.

White scored again after 24 minutes when a pass inside from a lineout was moved to him through Joe Martin; Lound converted.

Hull got their bonus point four minutes before the break when James Greene claimed a loose ball in his own 22 and raced to the far corner for an unconverted try.

Max Lewis continued the scoring after 55 minutes, crashing over from a close scrum before the Grasshoppers scored two quickfire tries in the last 15 minutes. Oga Mabaya provided the overlap on the left after a counter-attacking run from Philip Haines for the first one.

Haines then embarked on an outrageous run from the left wing and beat six men on his way to the line with Edwards converting both. Maea David ended the contest as he finished a close lineout before Guy Martinson missed the conversion.

Huddersfield 71 Rugby Lions 24

Huddersfield followed up the previous week’s 101 points against Manchester with a 10-try blitz of another relegated side, taking their points difference for the season to 200.

The home side’s hard, direct running found little resistance and provided an ideal platform for an impressive debut from 19-year-old Billy Dempsey, who turned in a display that suggests he could be one to watch for in future. Chris Johnson started the rout with a penalty, the first of 10 successful kicks to which he added a try for a personal haul of 26 points.

Tries from George Hinchliffe, Thomas Owen (2) and James Wood made sure of the bonus point after only 24 minutes and veteran prop Tony Springwell and Nick Sharp went over to make it 43-5 at the break. Johnson, Hinchliffe, Mike Clarke and Sharp stretched that to 71-10 before Huddersfield, reduced to 14 men by injury, having used all their replacements, relaxed in the sun and the visitors picked up two consolation tries.

Nuneaton 28 Morley 22

A TENSE first-half display with too many mistakes cost Morley victory against one of the sides in the relegation mix with them.

Although Morley picked up in the second half, after turning round 6-0 down, they were unable to catch their rivals.

But they ran in four tries and picked up two bonus points and with games in hand over the sides just above them, including one against whipping boys Manchester, they still have the chance to miss the drop.

After the errors of the first 40 minutes, it was a different side that challenged Nuneaton all the way after the break.

Captain and No 8 Craig Field went over for two tries and centres Michael Ash and Peter Martin also touched down with Simon Bradshaw landing only one conversion.

Luctonians 31 Harrogate 48

Injuries and unavailabilities forced Harrogate to travel without proper front-row cover and Luctonians were without several first-choice backs.

This contributed to a fast, open game with 11 tries being scored in excellent conditions.

The Harrogate defence coped well with Luctonians’ opening attacks until a scrummaging offence was penalised and Lucas Roy-Smith’s kick put the home side ahead. Harrogate launched waves of attacks with Dan Harland prominent before an overlap was created for Ed Smithies to touch down.

More Harrogate attacks followed but untypical handling errors proved costly. The Luctonians pack responded with their trademark driving mauls and No 8 Paul Hulland, crashed over for a converted try .

A quickly-taken penalty then caught the home defence napping and Smithies strolled through to score his second try with Mike Aspinall converting.

Harrogate’s next score came from winger Jamie Broadley. He snapped up a loose ball, broke the defence and accelerated away for a converted try. The pressure continued with excellent back-row work from Harland and Alex Rieder and Aspinall beat the cover for a converted try to earn Harrogate a bonus point and a 26-10 half-time lead.

The attacks continued after the interval and Toby Quarendon scored after a backs move.

Veteran second-row Rob Johnson stunned the crowd with a thundering 40-metre run, Luctonians conceded a penalty at the breakdown and Broadley scampered through to score.

Luctonians centre Binham scored a fine individual try before a nasty ankle injury to Harrogate’s Mark Tampin led to a long break in play.

Broadley then kicked ahead and won the chase to complete his hat-trick, his 28 touchdowns breaking Harrogate’s record for individual tries scored in a season which had stood since 1925.

Hulland duly scored his second try from a driving maul before Harrogate substitute winger Euean Miller celebrated his 18th birthday with a try on his first-team debut.

Luctonians finished with a try from full-back Will Hodnet, which earned them a richly deserved bonus point.

Caldy 63 Hull Ionians 21

It is hard to believe that Hull Ionians dominated possession for the first half and played most of it in the attacking 22, but they failed to turn pressure into points against a well-disciplined defence.

Injuries did not help with both Danny Hague and Will Heylings limping off within 10 minutes.

In reply, Caldy were playing sevens style, high-risk rugby and broke away for three first-half tries through Gavin Woods, Gavin Roberts and Shaun Woof, the third off an interception.

Ionians opened the second half by turning pressure into points with Albert Thundercliffe driving over but far too often possession was surrendered with Caldy running into space for four more tries by Dan Rowlands, Alec Smith, Craig Ross and Jack Stott-Sugden.

Ionians finally capitalised on their pressure with tries coming from Adam Thomas and Joe Sanders, James Ferguson converting all three,.

Caldy wrapped it up with tries by Liam Devaney and Gareth Bansor. Roberts converted all nine tries.