Wharfedale rally in style but Hull Ionians suffer late agony

The Greens deservedly edged a vital victory but the visitors will rue a lack of discipline that saw them, shortly after half-time, operating with just 12 men, yellow cards having been issued to forwards Tom Ellis and Keiron Scutt, plus centre and captain Markus Burcham.

Even so, such was the determination of Blackheath’s defenders that they conceded no tries in this frantic period – just a single penalty from James Guy cancelling out one by Frederick Gabbitass.

The Dalesmen had the better of the opening exchanges, but line-out frailty saw two excellent scoring chances wasted after Guy had sent penalty kicks too close to the Blackheath line.

Blackheath, by contrast, were clinical when opportunities came their way. A fumbled high ball gave the first opening, hooker Scott Wright finishing off an efficient surge and Gabbitass converting.

Flanker Dave Allen touched down after a controlled maul from a line-out to make it 12-0.

Guy began Wharfedale’s fight-back with two penalties, and the deficit was cut to a point when flanker Jack Barnard snaffled a ball that squirted from a Blackheath scrum to grab the try.

After Gabbitass and Guy had swapped early second-half penalties, play was almost totally confined to the visitors’ half as the Greens attacked in force.

Blackheath centre Simon Whatling became the fourth visitor to see yellow, but he had returned to the fray before the crucial breakthrough in the 73rd minute.

A mishandled ball presented centre Cameron Hudson with the chance to hack ahead and touch down unchallenged, leaving Guy a straightforward kick.

Hull Ionians failed to close the gap on the top half of the table as they went down to a last-minute try from Paul Olima in a 22-19 defeat at home to Esher.

Ionians started the game brightly and led 12-5 at the break, before a second-half collapse saw them concede three tries in the last 20 minutes to let the visitors off the hook.

The hosts went in front through a penalty try on five minutes, converted by stand-off Greg Lound, before Esher’s Spencer Sutherland broke down the wing to reduce the deficit.

No 8 Joseph Maud scored after good work from the pack to put Hull back in control at half-time, with centre Joe Allott also going over to increase the lead to 19-5 once Lound had converted.

But with 20 minutes to play remaining, the wheels began to fall off for the home side, with substitute Tom Williams bringing Esher back into the game with a try converted by full-back Alastair Chisolm.

It was left to winger Olima to sound the death knell for Ionians late on, first going over with 12 minutes to play to reduce the gap to five points then touching down for the winner in the final moments.