Otley and Ionians climb away from trouble but no home comfort for Hull and Harrogate

A harsh wind allied to a claggy surface was ready-made for the home side who gave Otley a 30 minute lesson in Cumberland wrestling, keeping the ball to themselves.

Extremely adroit at the rolling maul Kendal monopolised the ball but Otley stood up magnificently, conceding just one try by prop Bill Coxon, while No 7 Daniel Temm, who broke his finger later in the game, was in the sin-bin and slowly but surely they began to take control and on 36 minutesTemm broke through, full-back Ben Collins took over and a few short passes saw hooker Tim Mobbs over.

The first-half ended with winger James Twomey tackled into the corner flag and this determination soon forced errors after the re-start. Collins secured a penalty and as Kendal began to lose their discipline they picked up a couple of yellow cards. As an attacking force Kendal were being played out of the game but their defence kept Otley at bay, restricting them to just a second penalty from Collins .

Leicester Lions 11 Hull Ionians 16

Hull Ionians moved off the bottom of the league table with a hard-fought victory in the Lions den, their better teamwork paving the way to victory.

The Lions had the gale at their backs for the first half which they initially used to good advantage. Hull Ionians received the kick-off then lost possession and the Lions attacks kept the ball alive to send Joe Marston over in the corner. Hull conceded six penalties in the opening 15 minutes, Jon Boden kicking them into an 11-0 lead.

Hull closed the half driving well into the gale and after Lions received yellow for offside at the line the resulting play saw Dave Marshall kick to the corner where Will Du Randt collected and just squeezed over to score.

With the gale at their backs Hull kicked to the corners and a second Lions yellow card was punished again, Joe Sanders driving over off a line-out catch and drive.

Dave Marshall kicked a two penalties before the Lions stormed the line only to find the Hull defence resolute as they held out for victory.

Hull 3 Loughboro Students 20

Hull put pressure on the visitors and were rewarded with a well struck penalty by James Cameron.

Loughborough were quick to respond but their pacy back division were well held by Hull’sdefence.

Both sides found it hard to create chances but Hull had several promising moves halted by forward passes or spilt the ball at the vital moment.

Hull’s narrow three point lead at halftime, having had the elements in their favour, did not look enough to prevail and so it proved as they presented Atkinson with a gift try before second row Parker crashed over.

Hull’s cause was not helped when their new scrum-half Matt Rhodes was yellow carded and then Loughborough’s Hall kicked a penalty to put the visitors well in command at 13-3 .

The last nail in Hull’s coffin came when Loughborough secured their own scrum ball five yards out and Conquest was awarded the try which Katz easily converted to give the visitors a slightly flattering 20-3 winning margin.

Harrogate 16 Luctonians 19

Harrogate saw Luctonians snatch victory in the second minute of injury time. It had been a contest between the dominant Luctonians’ scrum and Harrogate’s more inventive back play.

The visitors were awarded several late penalties before winger Will Richards dived over for the winning score with John Morris adding the conversion.

Harrogate’s Callum Irvine squeezed over to score in the left corner, before No 8 Paul Hulland replied for the visitors. Two Irvine penalties saw Harrogate lead 11-5 at the interval.

A yellow card for visiting flanker Bruce Thomas gave Harrogate a vital edge in a driving maul and James Tyson drove over to increase the lead.

Luctonians mounted a series of driving mauls and prop Anthony Marfell burst through to score. Morris’s conversion took them to within four points of Harrogate.

Then came the Luctonians injury time coup de grace. Harrogate still didn’t give in and and came very close to restoring their lead but the Luctonian’s defence just kept them out.