Ionians edge out Mowden Park while Wrigglesworth is Hull’s hat-trick hero

Hull Ionians recorded the narrowest of wins as they beat Darlington Mowden Park 32-31 in a game that saw both sides exchange the lead throughout.

After going 3-0 down to a Grant Connan penalty after just two minutes, Ionians soon took charge and scored three tries in 20 minutes to go into a 17-3 lead. Mark Wigham scored the first with David Laverick and Daniel Hague following suit.

But Darlington hit back twice before the break, first through Chris McTurk and then with Chris Peace. That made it 17-17 at half-time, with the game finely balanced.

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Connon and Duff scored for the visitors in the second half, with Alex Torkingon’s try for Ionians sandwiched between.

Michael Bateman crashed over to keep Hull’s chances alive and then on 74 minutes, Adam Thomas scored the try that secured the slim advantage for Hull.

Hat-trick hero James Wrigglesworth led Hull to a 32-10 victory on the road as they took on Sheffield Tigers.

A try from Jared Williams, along with the accurate kicking of Greg Lound saw Hull lead 10-0 at the break.

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Wrigglesworth made sure they picked up where they left off, running his first try in after 43 minutes. But Tigers found a way back into the game through Peter Swatkins and No 10 Tom Outram added the extras.

But two minutes later, Wrigglesworth added his second and although Jamie Broadley hit back for Tigers, the Hull man’s third try wrapped up the points.

Huddersfield were given a 64-5 run-around on a hot, dry day as they succumbed to a 10-try defeat at home to Luctonians.

The powerful running of Luctonians’ centres continually sucked in the home defence, leaving the wingers with room to manouvere.

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Luctonians were out of sight by the midway stage with only the Huddersfield forwards providing a sense of parity.

Prop Alex Batty showed an old head on young shoulders, his scrummaging and all-round play belying his tender years.

Another outstanding performer in Dan Hyde’s ranks was centre Tom Owen, the creator of the only home points of the game.

Owen made a handful of decisive breaks before, eventually, an overlap was created and skipper Nick Sharpe was on hand to dummy and dive over for the try.

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A wonderful team effort secured maximum points for Otley, 29-24 winners at Birmingham Solihull.

They were hit with a first minute try when full-back Heath came into the line, Chapman converting and looked like going further behind when conceding a penalty under the posts but an adventurous Birmingham tap and pass found Ollie Cicognini who raced the length of the field. From the re-start James Twomey gathered a bouncing ball to run in a second, both converted by Ben Cooper.

Birmingham came back with tries from Leach, converted, and Connolly for a half-time lead. But Otley hit back after the break through Jonathan Matthews. A Sanders try changed the lead but Cicognini sped through to score.

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