Tigers scent title after double from Wallace as Pipers get in tune to boost Cleckheaton

The 24-5 victory sees them go 14 points clear at the top of the table.

An early try from prop Will Bennett gave Tigers the lead and stand-off Mark Ireland added the conversion. Rossendale pulled back a try but Tigers led 12-5 at the break with Liam Wallace scoring from centre.

Wallace added a second try early in the second half while at scrum-half, and they held out comfortably with full-back Pete Swatkins touching down and Ireland converting again.

Cleckheaton lifted themselves out of the relegation zone with a hard fought 16-5 home win in difficult conditions against Hull.

Cleckheaton led at the break thanks to a penalty from Ronan Evans.

Centre Matt Piper then forced his way over before Michael Piper’s chip was touched down by Mark Barlow.

Evans made it 16-0 five minutes later with a penalty before Hull’s Lee Birch went in for a consolation try.

With Hull suffering defeat, Sheffield moved back up to fourth place with a five-try, 31-17 victory over mid-table Billingham at Abbeydale Park.

Sheffield took an early lead with a try by flanker Alex Fawdry, converted by centre Joe Cribley. Billingham replied with a penalty by full-back Peter Evans midway through the first half, but the home side turned round 12-3 ahead from a try by replacement flanker Connor Mitchell.

Winger Rupert Broadley opened the second-half scoring with a try before Mitchell ran 40 metres to touch down for his second following an interception from a scrum, Cribley converting.

Billingham pulled back a try by winger Martin Hopley, converted by Evans, but Sheffield put the game out of sight when their centre Owen Smith raced through for a try and Cribley converted. Billingham reduced the arrears with a try by Steve Smith, Evans again adding the points.

The result reversed Sheffield’s 41-35 defeat at Billingham last October.

Ilkley secured their third successive away win with a 39-24 success at Stockport to continue their bid to escape the league’s danger zone.

Rhys Morgan’s men looked to be in trouble at the start of the year after seeing their fortunes slip following an impressive start to the campaign. However, the last three games have seen a turnaround and pushed them towards mid-table.

Ilkley scored five tries and used their forwards impressively to dominate proceedings. Trailing 19-15 at the break, they fought back when hooker Nico Nyemba touched down at successive pushovers, and there were also penalty tries and a first-half score by scrum-half Joe Rowntree, who also kicked 14 points.

Stockport failed to add to their tally until the latter stages but a try counted for nothing.

Huddersfield YMCA suffered their third successive defeat after being unable to break the defensive line at promotion-chasing Firwood Waterloo, who were 22-6 winners.

YMCA went into the game a point outside the bottom three and needing to break recent form to start moving out of danger. An early penalty put them ahead but an unconverted try overturned that advantage in a closely-fought first half.

The second half started in similar fashion with Huddersfield going in front with a second penalty by scrum-half Simon Wilson. However, that was as good as it got as three consecutive tries saw Waterloo take control and restrict the visiting attack to a fruitless afternoon.