Wilson's dismissal costs hosts as Huddersfield storm back

NATIONAL TWO NORTH

HUDDERSFIELD triumphed from 17-6 down with 15 minutes to play.

A try between the posts had given Harrogate that cushion but Mike Aspinall's attempt at a drop goal conversion missed.

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Ten minutes later, Harrogate flanker Chris Wilson was red carded for an alleged stamping offence, the pattern of the game changed and Huddersfield went into attacking mode.

Two tries in the last 10 minutes and a touchline conversion from Chris Johnson stunned the home supporters.

Harrogate started shakily, Aspinall's clearance being charged down and Huddersfield drove for the line. The defence went offside and Johnson opened Huddersfield's account with a straightforward penalt.

Harrogate steadied themselves and went on the attack for the rest of the half. Their forwards delivered consistently good ball from which the backs set up dangerous attacking moves in wet and windy conditions. After a series of Harrogate driving mauls, Huddersfield went offside and a quickly taken penalty on the left led to recycled ball and Wilson squeezed in to score in the right corner.

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The Harrogate attacks continued and Jamie Broadley carved a hole in the Huddersfield defence, Kyle Dench carried the move on and Tim Heaton supported well to score between the posts and give Aspinall an easy conversion.

Another penalty by Johnson reduced the arrears but the Harrogate attacking pattern continued for the rest of the half.

From the restart, a sharp break from scrum-half Tom Bugge made good ground though he then lost the ball in contact.

Huddersfield set up a driving maul but Andy Fraser won great

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turnover ball to release Bugge once again. This time, his break took him into open space, Broadley was in support and took the scoring pass to touch down.

The missed conversion seemed to spur Huddersfield and their pack launched a series of driving mauls. The visiting backs showed their attacking potential for the first time. James Wood broke strongly on the right and this led to an attacking scrum. The extra man advantage told in the scrum and created good ball from which flanker Nick Sharpe, drove over to score a converted try.

Further Huddersfield attacks followed and replacement Jack Andrews touched down for Johnson to seal victory.

Morley 14

Westoe 7

Morley dispatched third-placed Westoe with a dominating performance.

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Westoe started the brighter with Morley hardly seeing the ball for the first 10 minutes but, after weathering the early storm, the home side took the lead with a penalty by full-back Charlie Spon-Smith.

He added two further kicks on 26 and 35 minutes to put his side 9-0 up at half-time after taking control for the remainder of the half.

After the break, captain and No 8 Craig Field produced a wonderful score to extend the advantage, his powerful diagonal run across the pitch proving unstoppable. Spon-Smith added the conversion.

Westoe came back with a converted try of their own by outside centre Jamie Clark but Morley's defence held firm and comfortably saw through the remaining minutes to claim the win, which puts them in good heart for the trip to table-topping Loughborough Students.

Nuneaton 9

Hull 27

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Defence wins games according to modern thinking and for long periods Nuneaton enjoyed possession.

But Hull have learned that at this level chances have to be taken and they made the very best of any opportunities which came their way.

The result was that they came away with victory in their first away match of 2011 after producing flashes of pace and efficiency which Nuneaton could not handle.

Nuneaton had a scrappy first half and it showed after 10 minutes when an altercation off the ball gave Hull captain James Cameron the chance to slot over a penalty from 30 metres.

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On the half-hour, winger Alex Piercy intercepted a pass on the right flank and in the next phase Hull took the ball to within 20 metres of the line before Cameron popped up a smart pass for Piercy to finish the move he started with an unconverted try.

Cameron finished the half with another mid-range penalty following an illegal challenge but after the break, Nuneaton cut the deficit with two early penalties from Jack Jolly after Hull were caught coming in from the side and pulling down the player on 55 minutes.

Barely two minutes later, Cameron reinstated the Hull lead with a drop goal from 30 metres.

With 15 minutes to go, Cameron kicked another penalty after James Greene was obstructed from chasing his own kick by Alex Mumford, who received a yellow card for the offence.

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The loss of a man gave Hull more space and inside the last 10 minutes, winger Will Robinson picked up Tevita Vaikona's clearance and used his pace before kicking ahead to touch down.

James Kirk landed the conversion and a last-minute penalty to seal a satisfying victory.

Hull Ionians 79

Manchester 5

Hull Ionians' forward power ground Manchester down in the first half and in the second period, excellent team work enabled them to run in nine more tries, 13 in total, to create a new club record score.

A powerful run off a stolen line-out on the 22 saw Mark Wigham cross inside two minutes and 15 minutes later, forward drives set up teenager Simon Hammersley to weave through, Simon adding both conversions.

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Straight from the restart and by moving it wide, Sam Wilson and Mark Duxbury made ground before Joe Sanders finished from 40 metres out.

To close the half, man of the match Wigham set off up the middle with good forward support play, which released Gary Stephenson to finish in the corner.

With the wind against them, Manchester, out of their depth having switched to a community club, struggled to make ground after the break while Ionians patiently probed then released players at pace into the openings created.

Stephenson raced in from 70 metres, Ali Forth from 22, Simon Hammersley from 40 then Rob Kench from 22. Dan Porter came on and glided through twice before Jenkins powered over and Wilson raced in.

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Manchester never gave in and were applauded when five minutes of sustained possession at the line earned a consolation try on 74 minutes by lock Marcus Smilke-Knox. Ionians had the final say when Sanders crossed again.