Relief for Hull as Morris misses target in late rally by Luctonians

He added: “We played well for long periods and looked the better side but we could have lost it in the last minute.

“The victory will breed confidence and we should be winning games like this more easily.’’ Cook was pleased with newcomers Dutton, in the front row, and Jones, at scrum-half, who came on as replacements and made their mark.

It certainly was not an easy win although with 15 minutes to go Hull looked in command.

It took 20 minutes for high-flying Luctonians to ease into a six-point lead through the boot of winger John Morris.

Hull No 8 Ollie Cook was making his presence felt with surging runs from the base of the scrum and he earned Hull a penalty which Greg Lound easily converted.

With Chris Murphy leading the forward charge and everyone of the pack making a significant contribution, Hull were starting to rattle the visitors and after 32 minutes a delightful move involving Matt White, Murphy and Will Robinson saw the winger race in at the corner for a fine try which Lound failed to convert.

Having the lead at half-time, Hull were soon back on the attack and a fine driving maul from a lineout saw Phil Murphy touch down and Lound landed a fine conversion to make it 15-6.

Despite conceding a host of penalties Hull seemed to have weathered the Luctonians assaults on their line until a frantic last 10 minutes.

Morris kicked a penalty to make it 15-9 and Robinson brought off a try-saving tackle as the visitors swept forward. Even he could not prevent a driving maul giving Luctonians a try on 75 minutes that brought them to within a point. Morris missed the conversion as well as a long-range penalty as Hull recorded their second win of the season.

Bromsgrove 38 Hull Ionians 10

Hull Ionians struggled to contain a big Bromsgrove team, who used their weight to break tackles and put the visitors under severe pressure whenever they had possession.

Bromsgrove had the slope advantage for the first half and used it well to amass 26 points and although Ionians improved after the break and made frequent forays, a heavy shower around half-time forced handling errors by both teams, Bromsgrove punishing two to score their second-half tries.

Bromsgrove dominated the early game and soon forced a try through lock Petre Neascu with Ben Copson adding the conversion and then a penalty.

A penalty for offside was converted by Isaac Green, but Copson soon struck one in reply. Good defensive work by Gary Stephenson forced an error and raced clear to the posts for Green to add the goal.

Bromsgrove kicked with the slope to gain good positions and Copson added two more penalties and Jon Critchlow dummied through the middle for a try.

Ionians dropped the ball on 45 and 60 minutes, allowing Bromsgrove to steal it and score through Drew Harper and Aaron Higgins, Copson converting the bonus point try, in a half where both teams mounted good attacks but lacked the support play to finish them off.

Kendal 5 Huddersfield 41

PLAYER-coach Dan Hyde ran in two tries as Huddersfield romped to a much-needed victory.

After a narrow defeat to Caldy last time out and a draw at Loughborough before that, Hyde’s men needed a win to get back on track and they provided it in style.

Chris Johnson got things underway with a penalty and a drop-goal before the home side hit back with their only try. Huddersfield extended their advantage with a further penalty before Hyde grabbed his side’s first try.

Phases of possession after a scrum ended with a break down the blindside and the No 8 could not be stopped. Johnson added a further three points before the interval to leave his side with a 17-5 advantage.

After the break, full-back Ian Shuttleworth scored a neat try before the game was put out of sight following the award of a penalty try converted by Johnson. Huddersfield had already secured the bonus point before Hyde wrapped things up in the dying minutes.

Some fleet footwork saw him evade a handful of defenders before driving his way over to crown an inspirational display

Sheffield Tigers 17 Preston G’Hoppers 30

Tigers continue to compete well against the more established national division sides but, after their narrow defeat by Nuneaton, they were edged out by another higher-placed team.

The Dore Moor club scored the opening try but were eventually overpowered by Preston’s stronger forwards and ended the game empty-handed.

They took an early lead when stand-off Jonny West kicked the first of his four penalties.

Grasshoppers replied with a penalty from Graham Holroyd before West struck again.

There was little to choose between the sides until the last five minutes of the first half. Holroyd kicked the visitors into a 12-6 lead before Tigers’ winger Alex Graham raced over for a try to put his side back to within one point, but Grasshoppers turned round 22-11 ahead as Holroyd converted a try by winger Matt Hughes and then landed his fifth penalty.

The second half saw another exchange of penalties, West raising Tigers’ hopes of a losing bonus point when he opened the second half scoring, but again Holroyd replied.

West kicked a fourth penalty but their chances were dashed when Preston’s Owen McKenna sprinted over for an unconverted try.

Leicester Lions 22 Otley 13

Otley struggled but forced their way into an 8-0 half-time lead only to endeavour to lose a game where they had the scoring opportunities to win.

The 59th-minute yellow card for captain Adam Blades cost them for it was in the forwards where they had held the edge.

Penalties enabled Otley to apply early pressure and when Lions No 7 Mark Holgate was yellow-carded, they scored when lock Tom O’Donnell broke from a maul to dive over. Although mostly kicking for position an exception was made and full-back Nick Copeland landed a penalty but they fell into bad habits after the break and were made to pay, prop Tom Williams was driven over, full-back Jon Bowden converting and then levelling with a penalty.

Otley allowed Holgate to stride over on 73 minutes and he was followed by Joe Glover, Bowden converting.

A last-minute break by James Twomey completed the scoring.