Twickenham slips away after defeat

They were beaten 18-10 by Cheshire at Sheffield RFC and now need to beat defending champions Lancashire at Fylde next Saturday and Warwickshire at Hull the following week to have any chance of reaching the final.

An exchange of penalties by Tom Foden (Birmingham Solihull), brother of England full-back Ben, and Yorkshire’s Richard Vasey (Caldy) opened the scoring before Foden landed a second penalty to put Cheshire ahead again.

Yorkshire collected their only try through winger Curtis Wilson (Otley) which Vasey converted, but Cheshire took a 13-10 interval lead thanks to a try by Ed Stobart (Sale Jets) that Foden goaled.

Cheshire then claimed the only score of the second-half 10 minutes from time through Stockport centre Jamie Anthony which took the game out of Yorkshire’s reach.

Cheshire manager Dave Partington: “The senior players stood up to the challenge and the youngsters also played well. The key to success was the fact that the team gelled very quickly.

“We mentioned the importance of this beforehand and the team responded very well.”

It is the second successive season that Graham Siswick’s Yorkshire have lost to Cheshire in the Bill Beaumont Cup.

North One East: Wheatley Hills lost 21-17 at home in their final match of the season with victors Northern desperate for a win to avoid relegation and condemn Pontefract to the drop instead.

Left winger Lee Wallace scored for the South Yorkshire side after two minutes and Jack Craswell added the conversion.

Northern hit back with penalties from fly-half James Moffatt.

Centre Michael Hayward touched down for Wheatley after two minutes of the second half to go 12-6 ahead, and three minutes later full-back Johnny Marshall extended their lead to 17-6 with a third try.

But Moffatt kicked a 50th-minute penalty, full-back Andy Sutherland touched down on 53 and two minutes later No 8 Paul Brady crashed over for Northern, Moffatt adding the extras.

Cleckheaton brought their long season to an end and finished third with a seven-try 48-8 home victory over Morpeth, who fielded a weakened side owing to injuries and unavailabilities.

Morpeth took the lead with a try but Iain Gordon’s penalty was followed by tries from Ed Chappelow and James Wilson, which Gordon converted.

Tries from Martin Woodhead, Mark Sergeant and two from leading scorer Ross Hayden emphasised the difference in class of the two back lines, but the crunching tackle, gathering of the ball and sprint to the line by Lee Queeley was the highlight of the match in the 70th minute.

Play-off: Sheffield clinched promotion to North One East in dramatic style with a 18-17 victory over hosts Darlington.

The runners-up in Yorkshire One, Sheffield clinched a try five minutes from time to take the lead and ultimately defeat Durham/Northumberland One runners-up Darlington.

The home side led 5-3 at half-time, with a forwards’ try to Sheffield’s penalty by Donal Collins.

After the break, Sheffield took the lead with scrum-half Matthew Poste touching down on 46 minutes and stand-off Collins adding the extras.

Darlington hit back with two more tries from driving mauls to lead 17-10.

Collins pulled back a penalty on 66 minutes and when prop Tommy Marples touched down on 75 minutes, Sheffield had done enough for promotion.

Yorkshire One: Bridlington ended their season on a high, with a 5-27 victory at hosts Bradford Salem.

An early try from winger Ryan Kerr was converted by scrum-half Steve Mellonby, who had also kicked a penalty.

Their lead was extended shortly after the break with a try from replacement centre Sizew Zondo which Mellonby converted, and a second penalty from the scrum-half made it 20-0.

No 8 Jimmy Molloy added thge third try on 66 minutes, and the conversion from Mellonby completed the scoring.

Yorkshire Two: Barnsley secured an emphatic seven-try victory over Ripon, winning 45-36 with No 8 David Reed and winger Darryl Cheetham both scoring two tries in the win.

Huddersfield YMCA were given a home walkover after Old Rishworthians failed to raise a front row. They played a friendly match, which YMCA won 89-19.

Skipton emerged 56-10 victors from their game with Yarnbury, while relegated rivals West Park Leeds and Roundhegians battled out a 26-26 draw.