Otley and Stourbridge jump into top four

There is no change at the top in National Two North after Round 11 as Macclesfield made it 10 straight wins, but there has been a reshuffle just below them.

Sedgley Park stay second after returning to winning ways but defeats for Caldy and Sandal has paved the way for Otley and Stourbridge to move into the top four.

Preston Grasshoppers made it back to back wins with victory over Sandal while the Luctonians moved off the foot of the table and Sale FC picked up a vital home win.

Macclesfield 43-0 Leicester Lions

Macclesfield ran in six tries to secure their tenth straight victory after a comfortable win over Leicester Lions at Priory Park.

The home side opened a commanding 24-0 half-time lead with tries from Harrison Lewis, Matthew O’Regan and David Marwick.

A score from Francis Barker sealed the bonus point for Macc before Marwick touched down again and that was swiftly followed by a try from Ryan Parkinson to round off proceedings for the league leaders.

Macclesfield have now scored 72 points and conceded just three in their last two home matches.

Chester 24-36 Sedgley Park

Sedgley Park returned to winning ways but were made to work hard for this victory over Chester.

Two debatable penalty tries and a fantastic Rhys Hayes try got Chester closer to the visitors than expected.

Sedge scored the only two tries of the first half via Jamie Harrison and Mike Waywell with Steve Collins knocking over 13 points to give them a 3-23 half-time lead.

Second Row Rob Birtwell stretched the away sides advantage with a try of his own on 56 minutes before two penalty tries were awarded to Chester to the bemusement of Sedgley and that brought the score to 17-31 on the hour mark.

From Chester’s point of you, they will feel they deserved to get a try on the board as they started the second half superbly. They gained and kept territory. This exertion of pressure unsettled Sedgley and ultimately the home team took advantage.

However, the hosts couldn’t find another way through and when Birtwell crossed for his second try from 5 metres out, Sedgley knew they had completed the job despite Chester having the last word with Hayes’ sublime try.

South Leicester 22-30 Otley

Samuel Melville scored a hat-trick as Otley secured a bonus point win away at South Leicester to move third in the table.

Melville and South Leicester’s Tahir El Mandl exchanged tries inside the first seven minutes before the Otley winger crossed for his hat-trick just before the half hour mark.

Kristian Sharples clinched the bonus point for the visitors on the stroke of half-time as Otley were cruising to their fourth straight win of the season.

Replacement Kris McFedries reduced the deficit to 15-27 for South after a well-worked try, but the boot of Stephen Depledge extended Otley’s lead from the tee with his second penalty of the afternoon.

The hosts had the final say when Chris Bale darted over, but it was Otley who came away with the spoils as their good recent form continued.

Stourbridge 39-11 Tynedale

Stourbridge are up to their highest position in National Two North for just over a year as they moved into 4^th after this win against Tynedale.

Rod Petty, Nigel Mukarati and Joseph Carpenter all crossed for Stour as they took in a 17-11 lead at the break with Tyne’s points coming from two Ashley Smith penalties and a try from Benjamin Duncan.

Chris Depper secured the bonus point for the hosts on 56 minutes which was quickly followed by Mukarati grabbing his second try only after Ashley Elvers and Robert Park were both yellow-carded for their respective teams.

And Stour continued to restrict Tynedale to just the 11 points as both Elvers and finally Joseph Bridger  dotted down to complete the afternoon for the Midlands side who have lost just one of their last six matches.

Caldy 26-31 Harrogate

Caldy’s bad run of form continued on Saturday as Harrogate’s scintillating first half performance was enough for them to seal victory on the Wirral.

Caldy are now winless in four and moved down to 5^th with this defeat as they were completely blown away by their visitors in the first period.

A try from Guy Coser and 15 points from Lewis Minikin - made up of a try, two penalties and two conversions - put Harrogate in complete control at the interval as they led 5-20 with Thomas Banks going over for Caldy just before the half-time whistle.

Nicolas Royle crossed straight after the break for Caldy, but normality seemed to be restored when winger Stephen Parsons darted over for Harrogate to make the score 12-25.

Royle ran in his second try of the afternoon on 60 minutes before Minikin nudged over his third penalty of the day, but when Caldy’s Thomas Sanders powered his way over, there was only two points between the sides with nine minute remaining.

However, ‘Gate held their nerve as Minkin took his tally to 21 points for the afternoon with a penalty five minutes from the end, which was enough for Harrogate to claim their sixth win of the season.

Preston Grasshoppers 25-18 Sandal

Preston Grasshoppers made it back to back wins for the first time this season as two tries from Christian Taylor and a late winner from John Mackenzie was enough for them to see off Sandal.

The teams exchanged early penalties through Sean Taylor and Greg Wood, but Preston stretched clear through Christian Taylor’s first try of the afternoon after 25 minutes.

Taylor scored his second early in the second half to make the score 18-3, but Sandal responded in the final quarter of the match when forwards Jamie Heron and Luke Norbury both barged their way over from close range to level the scores.

Preston then turned up the heat on Sandal in the final 10 minutes of the game and the away side just could not prevent Mackenzie scoring the winning try for the Hoppers as he timed his run from deep to perfection to seal a valuable win for Garth Dew’s side.

Sale FC 19-13 Huddersfield

Sale FC ended their run of two straight defeats with a vital victory over Huddersfield despite flanker Matthew Postlewaite being sent-off with 15 minutes remaining.

Liam McGovern kicked eight first half points for Sale FC and that was backed up by a try from winger Jack Moorhouse to give the home side a 13-6 half-time advantage with Chris Bell landing two penalties for ‘Field.

Postlewaite was shown his first yellow card six minutes after the restart, but Huddersfield failed to capitalise on the extra man as McGovern slotted over a further two penalties in his absence.

But just seven minutes after coming back on the field, Postlewaite was removed from the pitch permanently as referee Brendan McGafferny brandished a second yellow card to the forward to give Huddersfield a lifeline to get back into this contest.

However, Sale held firm and reduced their visitors to just a Penalty Try in the final 15 minutes of the game to make sure of their fourth home win of the campaign.

Broadstreet 11-32 Luctonians

The clash of the bottom two sides in this division was won by the Luctonians who picked up their first away win of the season at the Ivor Preece Fields.

The Lucts moved off the bottom of the division with this victory and their road to this triumph began when William Hodnett and Dale Garner both crossed in the first half for the away side.

Louis Silver added two penalties to the scoreboard to give the visitors a comfortable 6-18 half-time advantage with Lee Chapman doing the honours from the tee for Broadstreet.

‘Street started the second period the stronger and were rewarded when Aaron Martin came off the bench to score their first try of the afternoon.

But from there, the Luctonians took the game away from their hosts.

In the final 10 minutes centre Geraint Langdon and full-back Joseph Doyle both weaved their way through the hapless Street defence to touch down to secure a much needed bonus point win for the side from Herefordshire.