Spence seals it as Hull make spirited winning comeback

Hull produced a good second half comeback and from the last move Neil Spence was on hand to finish another catch and drive to claim the bonus point.

Jon Boden kicked an early penalty but Hull responded when Darren Wigg finished off a catch and drive but James Cameron missed the conversion.

Carl Pallas struck back but Boden missed the conversion before adding a penalty.

Hull were much brighter in the second half and Scott Plevey dived over and Cameron converted before No 8 Devonshire scored an unconverted try.

Leicester hit back to within a point but Hull ran down the clock before Spence sealed victory.

Loughborough Students 26

Hull Ionians 23

Hull Ionians travelled to Loughborough with four of the normal front five unavailable but still pushed the leaders all the way and deserved their losing bonus point.

Ionians were fortunate that locks Rob Kench and Lee Brown and props Adi Longbone and Albert Thundercliffe had recovered from injury to return with Ally Forth recalled from his loan spell with Beverley.

Ionians took the lead with two penalties by James Ferguson but the second quarter saw the students cross twice. Ferguson replied with a third penalty just before the break.

The students opened the second half with a try but Ionians replied immediately with Adam Thomas sending Danny Hague crashing through, Ferguson adding the touchline conversion.

The students scored their bonus point try but in stoppage time, Rob Kench provided quick ball for Oli Marns to race between the posts to celebrate the vital losing bonus point, Ferguson converting.

Broadstreet 22

Huddersfield 26

Adam Sutcliffe grabbed a late try to clinch Huddersfield's third successive win that virtually assures them of survival.

This victory took them two points clear of Broadstreet and with four easy-looking fixtures to come, starting with bottom club Waterloo, Huddersfield could find themselves in a comfortable mid-table position by the end of the campaign.

Broadstreet made a lively start but Huddersfield managed to stay close enough to their opponents to be in with a chance.

After the break, they picked up the pace, tackled Broadstreet out of the game and Sutcliffe's late strike added to the earlier tries of Donovan van Vuuren, Nick Sharp and Mark Whitehead with goals from Chris Johnson was enough to see them home.