Morley hold nerve to move clear of danger as Sandal make light of depleted squad

Visitors West Hartlepool led 6-3 after the opening 15 minutes but the game burst into life when full-back Jack Moon went over for Morley on 23 minutes to give his side the advantage.

Some sparkling running rugby resulted in a try for flanker Tom Clough on the stroke of half-time, left winger Simon Bradshaw converting for a 15-6 lead.

Two carbon-copy tries by second-row Will Smyth five minutes into the second half effectively ended the game as a contest. Smyth made a powerful run from 15 yards to crash over and Bradshaw added the two points before Smyth profited from some sloppy defending to score again, Bradshaw’s kick making it 29-6.

However, the home side went to sleep for the final 20 minutes and West Hartlepool responded with two converted tries, time eventually running out on them.

The win lifts Morley ahead of the derby with Sandal.

Penrith 21 Sandal 41

SANDAL picked up a bonus-point victory at Penrith despite having to field players out of position and travelling with a squad of only 17 men.

Flanker Steph Lig, playing as an emergency winger, grabbed two early tries as the visitors built a 14-0 lead.

The advantage was extended to 17-0 by the boot of fly-half Tom Smith, who had kicked the conversions, but Penrith fought their way back into the contest by half-time.

Two converted tries brought it back to 17-14, leaving the contest wide open for the second half. Sandal kicked a penalty to move further ahead, only for the hosts to hit back and take the lead by a point with a converted try out wide.

However, from then on Sandal were in the ascendancy and they went back in front when a drop-goal attempt rebounded off a defender for centre Dan McCormack to go over between the posts.

Second-row Rob Overton was the man to touch down following a pushover before Smith profited from a dropped ball late on to complete the scoring.

Chester 48 Beverley 0

WITH 10 senior players injured, Beverley were forced into fielding a scratch side against the runaway league leaders who had won all their four games and scored over 100 points in the process.

Beverley were well beaten but they produced a courageous display in the searing heat.

Chester took the lead after five minutes with a try by centre Lloyd Hayes but were restricted to two further first half scores, tries for centre Tom Sneddon and another by winger Peter Rees with Hayes adding one conversion.

Dogged defending had kept the score to 17-0 at half-time but in the second half Chester cut loose, adding tries by hooker Liam Gill and lock Ross White.

Two converted tries in the space of two minutes by prop Ben Williams and full-back Pat Coy took the score to 41-0 after which Beverley enjoyed their best spell of the match in the final quarter.

Their forwards attacked the home line and their backs, with captain Junior Tupai always a danger at scrum-half, never stopped running, but Hayes then raced through for a final try which he converted.

Bradford & Bingley 50 Altrincham Kersal 0

The half-century winning margin was a fair reflection of the gulf between the sides.

Indeed, had the Bees taken all their chances they could have added 20 more points to their haul.

Kersal were never in the game as an attacking force and it took the Bees 12 minutes to open the scoring as Ben Greaves collected a kick from his brother Phil for a try which Gavin stead converted.

Tries from Giles Hetherington and Richard Hughes made it 17-0 at the break.

Phil Greaves soon struck after the interval with an interception try before Hetherington then zipped in for his second on 52 minutes.

No sooner had the Kersal defence come out for the kick-off than they were back between the posts after Aidan Scully scored out to the right.

It was 36-0 with 27 minutes to play with the Bees on top in all departments.

It took a further 10 minutes for the next score to arrive as Martyn Mitchell crossed. The Bees’ final score came with five minutes left as Stead crossed and converted.