No room for sympathy as Sandal maintain the pressure on leaders

Having surrendered their unbeaten run and position at the top of the table following a draw at Cleckheaton last time out, the hosts were in no mood for sympathy against the team languishing at the foot of the league. By half-time they had already powered into an unassailable 37-0 lead, ensuring that the bonus-point victory was never in doubt.

Beverley managed to score one at the start of the second half but from then on Sandal were back in full control, showing the required amount of pace and guile. Winger Gareth Newman chalked up a hat-trick of tries, and there were braces for No 8 Sam Whittingham and winger Simon Frewin.

Others to etch their names on the scoresheet were flanker Ralph Cartwright, centre Kieran Moffat and full-back James Ellar with three conversions. The try of the day belonged to Joe Allott following a wonderful combination from inside Sandal’s own half which ended with the centre sprinting away into the bottom left corner to finish with aplomb.

Cleckheaton held a minute’s silence to mark the passing of club president Alan Bentley before defeating Huddersfield YMCA 24-17.

Martin Woodhead soon powered over in the corner, YM opened their account with a penalty but Alex Dawson added Cleckheaton’s second and Ross Hayden converted one of the two tries to give the hosts a 12-3 lead at the break.

A change of shirt at half-time gave YM new impetus and a try 10 minutes in, gave them new hope.

It was short-lived as Cleckheaton’s Richard Piper touched down and Hayden converted. Cleckheaton extended their lead and claimed a try-scoring bonus point when a cross-field kick from Mike Piper was pounced upon by Burnhill. YM scored a consolation try and a simple conversion provided a valuable bonus point.

Two late tries saw Sheffield Tigers snatch victory from the jaws of defeat as they ran out 24-18 winners at Waterloo.

Tigers found their hosts to be tough opponents but got off the mark on 20 minutes with a pushover try credited to back-row Stefan Destounis.

Prop Ed Simmons also scored and outside centre Tom Outram added the conversion for a 12-5 interval lead.

Waterloo came out for the second half fired up, and hit back to lead 18-12 with two more tries as Tigers struggled.

But, on 80 minutes, Pete Swatkins crashed over and Outram added a conversion before left wing Henry Packard scored a minute later to clinch a narrow win.

Morley, without a win since November, had their game at Rossendale postponed.