Success on road at last for Greens

It was no surprise that Wharfedale’s fire- power up front was more than sufficient to subdue the Students.

The Greens dominated possession throughout the opening half and winger Nick Taylor and fly-half Luke Gray crossed and full-back Tom Davidson added the conversions and a penalty.

Centre Andy Hall had secured the Students’ first points with a penalty but they rallied after the break and full-back Craig Holland’s try was converted.

Wharfedale regained control and flanker James Tyson barged over before a neat break by Andy Hodgson enabled Tyson to send in Taylor in the corner for his second try.

Outram keeps his cool for Tigers as Hull are left with bonus consolation

Sheffield Tigers scraped a 21-19 victory at Dudley Kingswinford with a late try and conversion securing victory.

Stand-off Tom Outram kicked three first-half penalties, but Tigers still trailed 12-9 at the break with the hosts scoring two tries.

After the break, wing-forward Steve Walker scored Tigers’ first try to put them 14-12 ahead, but Dudley hit back with a 67th-minute converted try.

However, hooker Ross White touched down on 79 minutes for Tigers to pull level and Outram kept his cool with the vital conversion to secure the win.

Hull, who went down 32-28 at home to Caldy, picked up two bonus points against a side who were eight places ahead of them in the league.

Caldy led all the way, opening a 12-0 lead in the first five minutes. Hull looked capable of swinging the game in their favour as they turned round eight points adrift but failed to take sufficient advantage of the wind.

Tries by winger Alex Piercy, hooker Will Kay, prop Will Dutton and full-back Jim Wigglesworth earned them one bonus point. Greg Lound converted only one but landed two penalties to secure the losing bonus.

Hull Ionians left Damsom Park with a win after defeating Birmingham and Solihull.

Ionians took the lead early on with a James Ferguson’s penalty. Birmingham returned fire and Jack Jolly kicked a penalty.

Jolly put Birmingham 9-6 ahead but that was the last of their scoring as Samuel Wilson went over for Ionians’ first try on 49 minutes. Kerry Wood added a second and Ferguson converted both.

Otley were on top early on but lost 43-18 at Luctonians.

Dan Cooper put Otley ahead with a penalty but they failed to prosper and on 28 minutes, after taking a tap penalty between the posts, they lost possession and Alex Rumsey raced the length of the field to score a try and Dan Smith landed the first of four conversions.

On their second foray into the Otley half, Luctonians went further ahead, No 8 Paul Hulland powering over.

Cooper bagged a penalty before the break but home winger Drew Cheshire soon went over and, despite replying with a try from replacement Chris Gemmell, Otley were forced into desperate defence. Hooker Jordan Street went in but a break by Cooper gave scrum-half Steven Depledge the chance to scuttle in, the fly-half converting. Three more tries then ended Otley’s excellent start to the season.

Huddersfield went down to their fifth straight defeat, beaten 42-27 by Darlington Mowden Park, but showed improvement.

They paid a heavy price for missed tackles and Dan Hyde’s side have already conceded 191 points this season but they showed no lack of effort.

Tries from Dave Hall and Ben Mitchell inside the first 22 minutes saw them keep Darlington in their sights and Tom Owen, who had converted both tries, added two penalties just before the break to see Huddersfield turn round only 25-20 down.

The visitors cashed in on mistakes early in the second half and Huddersfield had to be content with a 63rd minute penalty try.

Bees spurn chance as Aspinall seals victory

Harrogate secured another bonus point win but ‘got out of jail’ in their 30-23 triumph at Bradford and Bingley.

After an early punch-up, Tom Bills kicked the Bees ahead but centre Richard Tafa was then sent to the bin for a high tackle which broke a bone in his hand.

Harrogate kicked for touch from the penalty and set up a driving maul from the ensuing lineout and Tim Heaton drove over for the first Harrogate try.

Harrogate’s backs took advantage of Tafa’s absence after a scrum offence enabled Bills to kick a penalty. Harrogate then spun the ball wide for Oli Denton to score in the corner.

Bills struck again but Rob Almond then finished a sparkling Harrogate attack with a try before Dench initiated a classy move from which Wackett scored to make it 20-9 at the break.

From the restart, Tafa’s powerful 35-metre run took him through several attempted tackles and Bills converted.

Harrogate won a turnover and Bottomley followed up a kick by Irvine to score their fifth try.

Harrogate prop Dan Metcalfe was binned and the pack conceded a penalty try and the conversion brought the score to 25-23. Harrogate’s Almond was forced off with a nasty ankle injury and they were then reduced to a six-man pack when Heaton was binned.

The Bees spurned at least two kickable penalty opportunities before Harrogate’s Mike Aspinall burst through to seal victory.

Sandal were brought back to earth with a 16-6 home defeat by Lymm.

Injuries forced Sandal to make changes. They had five front-row forwards in the pack, giving them an unbalanced look.

They dominated the first half and should have opened a bigger advantage than just two penalties from Greg Wood.

The visitors managed to peg back the lead to three points with a penalty before half-time.

Two unconverted tries put Lymm in control but Sandal kicked a penalty into the 22 only to spill the ball and Lymm hoofed it up field and forced their final penalty.