Round-Up: Wheatley storm out of blocks to victory

Cleckheaton’s Iain Gordon kicked the opening points, but after five minutes, Ryan Guest made a good break and touched down in the corner for Hills.

After a good drive, flanker Byron Elliott won the ball and touched down 10 yards in from the right corner.

Elliott then brushed aside a tackle and ran 40 yards to score. Jack Craswell landed the conversion before winger Tom Barker cut through the Cleckheaton defence and passed inside to Mike Hayward, who added the fourth try.

Cleckheaton responded at the start of the second half when Gordon went over and converted.

The only further score came when Cleckheaton were caught offside in front of the posts and Craswell hit the target.

Old Crossleyans 22 Gateshead 16

OLD Crossleyans snatched their first victory with a late try.

The hosts needed points on the board to settle their nerves and the breakthrough came when a sweeping move ended with centre Jack Hammond cutting inside the last three defenders to go under the posts. Leigh Thomas converted but the lead was cut to just one point by half-time after Crossleyans conceded two penalties. The home supporters’ roller-coaster ride continued when Gateshead grabbed a converted try before Thomas kicked successfully.

Crossleyans went ahead with winger Joe Baker scoring under the posts but an easy conversion was missed. The visitors kicked a penalty to lead 16-15 but when the ball was spun fromright to left, centre Jack Hammond slipped an inside pass for his elder brother and No 8 Ryan Hammond to score, Thomas converting.

Old Brodleians 25 Percy Park 23

OLD Brodleians needed a penalty in injury time to maintain their 100 per cent record.

Danny Wood’s penalty was all they had to show for their efforts as they trailed 20-3 after the interval. The fight-back began with a moment of magic from flanker Ollie Ackroyd, who beat three men to go over.

The deficit was cut to 20-15 with 20 minutes remaining when Joe Armitage barged over, Wood converting. A third try for outside Aaron Fowler owed much to excellent handling, Wood’s conversion – before traded penalties – proved decisive.

Durham City 22 Sheffield 13

Sheffield were caught cold, conceding two unconverted tries in the first quarter before stand-off Donal Collins pulled back a penalty to make the score 10-3 at half-time.

Durham ran in another converted try eight minutes into the second half, leaving Sheffield to salvage a second penalty by Collins, but Durham had the game sewn up when they scored again on 61 minutes.

Ali Womack raced through to score late on for Sheffield but it was too little, too late.

Billingham 53 Malton & Norton 12

Malton and Norton conceded nine tries against formidable Billingham.

Billingham went 19 points clear with three tries, two of which were converted, before Malton got a look-in when prop Liam Vaughan crashed over.

The visitors had one brief spell in the second half when they looked capable of limiting their losses, but their only further score was a try by centre Jarad Williams, converted by Teei Piawi.

Northern 14 Middlesbrough 20

MIDDLESBROUGH notched their third victory, but had to endure a tough final 20 minutes where they were down to 14 men.

Scrum-half Peter Wright touched down after nine minutes. Winger Michael Thornburn scored on 20 minutes.

Middlesbrough edged further in front with winger Jack Bircham crossed on 53 minutes.

Northern full-back Phil James touched down just after the hour mark to narrow the gap and give his side hope of victory, but despite their numerical advantage Northern could not breach.