The fixtures listed for January 20th were heavily affected by the adverse rainy weather which caused four of the seven fixtures to be postponed. The results of the three games played were;
Fylde 7-24 Wharfedale, Sheffield RUFC 26-13 Billingham and Tynedale 36–18 Lymm.
All the fixtures were fulfilled on January 27th and included three Yorkshire County derbies and just one Roses match.
This fixture saw Preston Grasshoppers win their first home game of the season when they defeated Hull Ionians by 44-33 after trailing 21-10 at the interval. The Hoppers scored seven tries to Ionians four with their left-winger Tyler Spence scoring a hat-trick which saw him take the Man-of-the-Match award. Ionians were sometimes close to winning the game but ultimately fell to their ninth consecutive defeat. Their full-back Lewis Minikin converted three of their tries and also added three penalty goals to keep them in with a chance but the Hoppers crossed the line five times during the second half and will be delighted to give their long-suffering supporters their first home victory.
Sheffield Tigers out-scored Hull RUFC by four tries to two in this game at Dore Moor and were good value for their 36-17 win as they were never behind at any time during the match. They had a healthy 22-3 lead at the break and were somewhat helped by Hull’s poor discipline when they had four players yellow-carded during the game. They conceded four penalty goals to the able boot of full-back Will Baker who also converted two of the Tigers tries. The Man-of-the=Match award went to the Tigers No 8 Josh Redfern.
Sheffield RUFC welcomed Wharfedale to Abbeydale Park and after leading 14-0 at the break went on to post a very good 31-14 victory over the Dalesmen. They scored four tries to Wharfe’s two, all converted by scrum-half Elliot Fisher to add to a penalty goal late in the game. The Sheffield lock Dominic Parsons took the Man-of-the Match honours.
Unbeaten league leaders Leeds Tykes ran amok against lowly Huddersfield scoring nine tries to three, three of them in the first eleven minutes. They won the game by 57-17 after leading 26-7 at half-time. They repeated the dose in the second half by crossing the line four times in a nine minute spell. Six of the Tykes nine tries were converted by three different kickers. The home side were awarded a penalty try in the eighth minute and crossed for two late tries in the last six minutes. Man-of-the-Match was the Tykes winger Henry McNab.
Second placed Rotherham Titans kept up the pressure on Leeds and were equally ruthless in their home game against Tynedale which they won by 42-7 after leading by just 7-0 at the break. All six Rotherham tries were converted by centre Lloyd Hayes and three of them were scored by former Hull RUFC players Loma Kivalu, Zak Poole and Tomasi Tanumi. The Titans prop Harry Newborn was voted Man-of-the-Match.
In a high-scoring game at Greenwood Road, Billingham and Otley both scored five tries each before the Yorkshiremen ran out winners by 40-29 after leading 23-12 at the interval. The Otley goal-kicker Gavin Stead proved to be the main difference between the two sides when he landed three conversions and three penalty goals, whilst the Billingham kicker only managed two conversions. Otley’s full-back Ben Dinsdale had a fine game, making several penetrating runs through the home defence and was declared Man-of-the-Match.
In the remaining game Fylde made the short trip into North Cheshire to Lymm where they ran in seven tries, five of which were converted in a 50-28 victory after leading by just 17-14 at the break. All four of the Lymm tries were converted and their side gave a very good display, leading by 28-17 with thirty minutes remaining. Fylde then put on a finishing spurt of pacy and accurate rugby to put thirty-three unanswered points past the home side to win in fine style. The Fylde prop Tye Raymond took the Man-of-the-Match award.
The league placings show no change at either end of the table with Leeds Tykes now on 79 points, Rotherham Titans on 73 and Sheffield RUFC on 65. In the nether regions Huddersfield are still on 13 points, Hull Ionians and Billingham both have 23, with the Durham side having a slightly better scoring difference of minus 53 points.
This coming Saturday February 3rd, is a blank date on the fixture list but four previously cancelled games will take place as follows;
Hull RUFC v Leeds Tykes, Hull Ionians v Sheffield Tigers, Wharfedale v Billingham and Otley v Huddersfield.
Ferensian.
HULL RUGBY UNION FOOTBALL CLUB 