Sandal rally as Bedford weaves over to keep the pressure on Sale

Sandal survived a second-half comeback from visitors Firwood Waterloo to win 35-27 and maintain pressure on leaders Sale.

Sandal raced into a 17-3 half-time lead with tries from winger Simon Frewin, full-back James Ellar and scrum-half Joe Bedford.

In the second half, Frewin went in for his second and fly-half Mark Pease also crossed. However, three unanswered tries and two conversions left only two points in it. Sandal rallied and from a scrum Bedford weaved his way over, leaving Pease to convert.

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Despite going down 58-12 at leaders Sale, Beverley produced a spirited performance.

Sale led 41-0 at half-time through tries by wings Ciaran Connelly (2), and Jack Moorhouse (2), fly-half Liam McGovern, full-back Mark Lawrence and scrum-half Sam Stelmaszek with three conversions by McGovern.

Flankers Danny Waddy and Adam Aigbokhae (2) added second-half tries, one converted, for Sale, while winger James Wright (2) scored for Beverley with fly-half Ryan Murray adding one conversion.

Third-placed Sheffield Tigers won 27-20 at Cleckheaton.

Ross Hayden’s penalty and a Richard Piper try from a catch and drive got the hosts off to a fine start but Tigers prop Ed Simmon, ploughed through and Tom Outram converted before they took the lead when Pete Swatkins exploited a gap to score out wide.

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Winger Brad Marsden immediately combined with Hayden, for the full-back to sprint in at the corner.

Cleckheaton looked to be on course for an upset when Piper scored a carbon-copy try after the break and Hayden converted.

Tigers’ pressure told and Outram kicked a penalty before Swatkins crossed to make it 20-20 with 20 minutes to go.

Tigers second-row Josh Redfern scored the winning converted try as Cleckheaton had Richard Brown held up over the line.

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Lymm secured a bonus point inside 15 minutes of a nine-try romp at Morley that ended 59-22.

The Maroons trailed 26-0 but scrum-half Sean Dadswell and then hooker Jamie Frost went in to score, Luke Stevenson converting.

The visitors added three more either side of the break but Dads-well’s second and one from outside-centre Stevenson added some respectability at 45-22, only for Lymm to score twice in the last 10 minutes.

Huddersfield YMCA are still looking over their shoulders after a late 20-17 defeat at home to fourth-bottom Burnage.

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The visitors took a 5-0 lead but YMCA fought back to lead 10-5 at half-time following a try by winger Adam Ryder and two kicks from Gavin Stead. The sides were level at 17-17 going into the latter stages until Burnage landed a penalty to claim the spoils.

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