Morley let opportunity slip as Hull's poor start proves costly

Morley 17

Luctonians 21

Morley let a comfortable lead slip through their fingers and crashed to a third successive defeat in a game they should have won.

Buoyed by the return of several players from injury and illness, Peter Seabourne's team clicked into gear early on and took a 12-0 lead with tries from No 8 Craig Field and full-back Chris Hall, back in the side after a month on the sidelines.

Morley were on top but couldn't hold on to the lead until the break, Luctonians hitting back just before the break but the home side again started the stronger and looked to be heading for a comfortable victory when Ben Johnson touched down 90 seconds into the second half.

At 17-7 Morley were set to push on and they attacked the visitors line only to make too many handling errors.

Gradually Luctonians clawed their way back into the game and given the boost of a converted try, they pushed on and claimed the winning try with two minutes to go.

It was bitterly disappointing for Morley whose only consolation was that they had stepped up from recent form and will go into next week's clash with Kendal, the side just above them in the table, with plenty of confidence.

Loughborough St 48

Huddersfield 10

Hull were undone in a poor first-half performance that gave Loughborough's promotion hopes real credibility in a fast-paced encounter.

Hull went behind after two minutes when George Drake ran up the right flank just as the defence contracted in the centre. A simple long ball out to the wing gave Drake an easy finish from 10 metres before the conversion was missed.

Mathew Everard doubled up after 15 minutes in the opposite fashion when Edmund Rolston made a 30-metre dash to the right corner before a long ball into the middle picked Everard out as his diagonal run went through the last man and Drake converted.

William Simpson scored for the Students 10 minutes later after a close-range lineout was quickly moved inside before a clever offloadin front of the sticks gave the centre space to score before the successful conversion.

Loughborough collected the bonus point three minutes before the break with seven simple, short passes from left to right and Callum Wilson's supporting run saw him past the defensive line.

From the kick-off, Loughborough got their fifth try as a solo run from Christopher Kinloch was supported by Fred Silcock who ran the final 20 metres unopposed to finish before Drake converted.

Hull brought Tevita Vaikona on at the break and made a much improved start after the interval. James Greene scored 10 minutes in after a technical foul earned flanker Everard a yellow card. The ball was quicky shifted right before a long pass back to the left corner allowed Greene span him around the last man and dived over, allowing Greg Lound to convert.

Craig Holland responded for the home side following another long pass to the opposite wing, pouncing on the loose ball and scoring.

But Adrian Longbone scored Hull'ssecond try with 20 minutes remaining from a close range catch and drive which Lound also converted in a better tactical second half.

Loughborough ended the match with two quickfire tries from Michael Macfarlane and Edmund Rolston in the last 10 minutes.

Hull Ionians 5

Harrogate 27

Hull Ionians gave a below-par performance as Harrogate took the honours in this Yorkshire derby, with the visitors winning by four tries to one.

With both teams dropping far to many passes, Harrogate's back row took command allowing their scrum-half Tom Bugge to distribute plenty of good ball for the backs to play a high risk game orchestrated by fly-half Mike Aspinall.

They held just enough passes to score three good first-half tries to lead 17-0 at the break.

Ionians had all the early territorial advantage but could not turn it into points, both Dan Porter for the hosts and James Rothwell for the visitors seeing very kickable penalties bounce back off the posts. On 17 minutes, Harrogate once again ran the ball from their own half and broke through for Mike Aspinall to provide the finish, Rothwell converting.

On the half-hour they did it again but this time were stopped short but kept the ball alive well to finally send Rothwell clear to the corner.

Both sides struggled to get things right at the break down and Harrogate took advantage when yet another penalty gave an attacking lineout from which Bugge darted over.

Ionians showed more life after the break and a counter attack from their own 22 by Dan Porter released Gary Stephenson who smashed through a double tackle then raced away to the corner for a fine individual try.

Another counter attack saw Mark Duxbury make ground on the left but just blocked in the 22 and careless hands lost the ball.

On 70 minutes, Ionians drove out of defence but once again lost the ball and Jamie Broadley went clear on the blind side to score the bonus point try, Aspinall adding the touchline conversion then his second attempted drop goal.

Flyde 22

Huddersfield 10

Huddersfield were caught cold by second-placed Fylde who ran in two tries in the first six minutes to lead 12-0.

To their credit, the visitors dug deep and produced some fine defence to prevent Fylde scoring again before the break but at the other end they too were having difficulties and only had a Chris Johnson penalty to show for their first half efforts.

The nine-point gap was always going to be hard to overcome and the home side took control, stretching their advantage with two more tries for the bonus point. Huddersfield were on the back foot for most of the time but still found the resilience to hit back with a well-taken try five minutes from time.

It was a score straight off the training ground routine which saw the defensive line split in two for left winger Dave Hall to charge through under the posts, for Johnson to convert.