Poor display still can’t prevent Sandal victory

SANDAL produced a disappointing performance yet still came out with a 19-6 home victory over Burnage.

Greg Wood’s penalties had the hosts 6-3 up in the early stages before the only try of the game. On one of the rare occasions when they managed to get the ball to work in their favour, Sandal No 8 Sam Whittingham made a break and, after the ball had been recycled, winger Alex Orr was on hand to expose the space on the blind side and dive in at the corner. Fly-half Wood added the touchline conversion and a penalty before the break make it 16-6.

The only additional points came from a penalty. Mistakes contributed to the lack-lustre second half but, fortunately for Sandal, the points they had amassed proved to be enough.

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n Harrogate suffered a 30-19 defeat at Chester – leaving themselves too much to do after trailing by 15-0 at the break.

A Lloyd Hayes penalty broke the deadlock before he was on hand to convert Tom Evans’s try.

Despite some enterprising play by the visitors, worse was to come when a smart Chester move saw the ball spun wide for Sam Green to make it 15-0.

A Max Lewis try reduced the deficit after the break, but the 15-point margin was soon restored by the home side when Evans grabbed his second try.

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A gluimmer of hope arrived for Harrogate when Callum Irvine converted Jimmy Browne’s try, but a Hayes penalty and a conversion of his own try put the home side out of sight, with Harrogate being awarded a late penalty try.

n Bradford & Bingley looked to have done enough to secure a losing bonus point at Brikenhead Park, only to be denied when they conceded two late tries, going down 33-16.

A Richard Scull penalty gave the Bees an early lead before Dave Hall was on hand to convert Stuart Brown’s try for the home side. Scull slotted another penalty to make it 7-6 at the break.

Jack Ashcroft’s converted try stretched Birkenhead’s lead and, following a Tom Bills drop goal, the home side made it 21-9 through Robert Houlistan’s converted try.

But Scull converted captain Guy Hall’s try to give the visitors hope, only for tries from Houlistan and Greg Hughes to quickly end that.

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