Hyde delight at Huddersfield resolve as Otley clinch derby and pack strength earns Hull win

Hyde was especially aggrieved by a slow start in Huddersfield’s last outing but they dominated the first half against Westoe and ran out 26-15 winners.

Fly-half Chris Johnson gave the home side an 11-0 advantage in the opening 20 minutes.

First he converted his own interception try and then kicked a penalty. With Huddersfield dominating possession and Westoe defending grimly, Johnson added a neat drop-goal.

On the stroke of half-time, Westoe’s No 8 Ollie Steadman landed a penalty to make it 11-3 to Huddersfield who lost their own No 8 Nick Sharp to the sin bin soon after the break.

However, despite being under pressure, Huddersfield prevented their opponents from scoring during Sharp’s absence and Johnson went on to kick a penalty.

Straight from the restart, Huddersfield regained possession and centre Mark Clarke finished off the best move of the game, Johnson converting. Hooker Thomas Banks replied with an unconverted try but winger Adam Sutcliffe raced away to make it 26-8 to Huddersfield.

Hayden Richards then crossed for a late consolation try.

Otley 46 Sheffield Tigers 28

A FEAST of rugby, 11 tries in all and the result in doubt until the final minutes, saw Otley, always happier at Cross Green, secure maximum points.

They took an early lead with a penalty from centre James Kleinhorst, who went on to secure four conversions, but the Tigers were in no mood to be second best and with a powerful display scored three tries in the following 20 minutes.

Securing the restart they ran at Otley and No 7 Callum MacKenzie crossed for fly-half Jonny West to convert and winger James Broadley benefited from being given room to score a brace of tries which West converted.

Settling down, Otley fought back and with tries from No 7 Daniel Temm (2) and prop Jonathan McMillan got themselves one point ahead at half-time. Sheffield did not help themselves with yellow cards for centre Tom Outram and lock Gregor Haytor.

Fifteen minutes after the break Temm completed his hat-trick, lock Tom O’Donnell surged over and Otley were looking comfortable but the Tigers responded well, Broadley racing over for his third try which West converted to put them back in the game.

Otley, however, had other ideas and replacement No 8 Chris Hill went over from a blind-side pass from Mark Gemmell who then gave the pass to put full-back Ben Collins over after excellent work from the forwards.

Kendal 6 Hull 12

Hull’s second win in a row was gained at the expense of a very committed Kendal side.

In a game played for long periods in driving rain it was always going to be one where defensive organisation was going to be tested.

Hull relied heavily on fringe squad players and a replacements bench with virtually no experience of rugby at this level.

Hooker-cum-flanker Jonathon Stephenson and winger Steve Payne both came off the subs bench to put in sterling performances belying their lack of experience.

Hull’s unsung heroes were the front five who out-scrummaged their opponents and took the honours in the close quarter exchanges.

Hull made life difficult for themselves by having three players yellow carded and giving away four times as many penalties.

After a scoreless first half, Hull increased their lineout dominance and achieved turnovers at vital moments. It came as just reward when Hull’s entire pack combined to drive over from 10 yards out after 44 minutes with Scott Plevey credited with the try which was converted by Steve Slingsby.

Hull’s forwards continued to dominate and another opportunity for a catch and drive from a lineout 15 yards out was eagerly taken as the hard-working Maxwell Lewis emerged with the try which went unconverted.

Ireland kicked his second penalty to earn Kendal a losing bonus point, but the victory for the visitors moved them towards mid-table.