Sedgley Park reignite title race

In Round 13 there were two main stories to come out of National Two North. The first was the horrendous weather over the weekend which saw two games postponed, while the second was the fact that Sedgley Park thundered back into the title race with an win away at league leaders Macclesfield.

Stourbridge stayed in the top three after victory over Otley, Caldy and Sandal both ended their winless runs as did Chester, while Broadstreet made it back to back victories as they continue their survival mission.

Preston Grasshoppers v Leicester Lions and Tynedale v Luctonians both fell foul to the weather.

Macclesfield 12-27 Sedgley Park

Sedgley Park closed the gap to three points at the top of National Two North as they beat leaders Macclesfield after a superb second half display.

Winger Jamie Harrison scored two tries while their third try came from a rolling maul, with Steve Collins kicking 12 points.

Macclesfield led 12-3 at the break after a try from winger Rhodri Mayor and a Penalty Try right on half-time.

Sedge hit back after the interval with their three tries and held out to inflict a second defeat of the season on Macclesfield and their first loss at Priory Park this campaign.

Stourbridge 25-8 Otley

Stourbridge remain third in National Two North after securing their fourth win in a row as they saw off Otley.

A Michael Coady try and a Stephen Depledge penalty had given Otley a 5-8 half-time lead, with Joseph Carpenter replying.

Chris Scott added two penalties for Stour to give them the advantage before the hour and they then put the game out of sight as Chris Depper and Joseph Heatley both crossed to seal their sixth win from their last seven games.

Caldy 31-15 Huddersfield

Caldy ended a run of no win in five matches with this victory over a struggling Huddersfield side at Paton Field.

Caldy’s Ben Elliot, Nicholas Royle and Nyle Davidson all crossed in the first period to edge their side in front at the break. Huddersfield’s points came from tries via Liam Parfitt and Elliot Hodgson as well as a Chris Bell penalty.

The hosts then dominated the second-half in which Davidson completed his hat-trick before John Collister scored and Gavin Roberts converted to secure a much needed win for the Wirral side while Huddersfield’s away woes continue.

South Leicester 20-25 Sandal

Thomas Coad’s two tries helped Sandal end a run of two straight defeats as they claimed a bonus point win away at South Leicester.

The full-back scored both of his tries in the first-half as Sandal seemed to find their early season form once again.

Luke Norbury and James Stewart scored the other tries for Sandal with Greg Wood kicking five points.

Chris Bale and Wesley Cope crossed for South and they were also awarded a late Penalty Try which secured a bonus point, but the hosts couldn’t fashion one more gilt-edge opportunity as they fell to their fourth straight defeat.

Broadstreet 23-8 Harrogate

Broadstreet made it back to back wins and are now up to 14^th place in the table following this victory over Harrogate at Ivor Preece Fields.

Harrogate struck first with a Lewis Minikin penalty and did lead 7-8 by the break as replacement Steven Maycock dotted down while Broadstreet’s points came from a Samuel Smith converted try.

But that was as good as it got for the visitors as they conceded 16 unanswered points in the second half.

‘Street responded to going behind with a Lee Chapman penalty on 50 minutes; before Luke Hibberd and Chris Idehen touched down to seal their third win in their last five games.

Sale FC 15-21 Chester

Chester’s first half performance was enough for them to secure victory over Sale FC at Heywood Road and pick up their first win in three matches.

The Cheshire side were excellent in the first period and led 10-21 after the break thanks to tries from the in-form Rhys Hayes, Shaun Strudwick and Callum Bennett, with Sale’s points coming via Connor Dever and the boot of Liam McGovern.

Chester would’ve been happy that they had not conceded any points in the first 20 minutes of the second half, but when George Nott was sin-binned, it opened the door for Sale to mount a comeback in the final 15 minutes of the game.

And it seemed as if Sale were going to turn this match around after a fine try from John O’Donnell just 60 seconds after Nott’s dismissal, but the home side just couldn’t find another way through as Chester held on for the win.

Preston Grasshoppers P-P Leicester Lions

Tynedale P-P Luctonians

Both of these games were postponed due to the heavy storm which hit the country over the weekend. These matches have been rescheduled for 27^th February 2016.