National League 2 North - Round 13 Performances
Hull Ionians came away from Mortimer Park with victory over Luctonians
©Hull Ionians
The two top win once again, but below them the top half is tighter than ever. The bottom half is also starting to follow suit after another excellent weekend of National Two North action.
League leaders Hull Ionians were strong favourites heading into their match with the Luctonians on Saturday and that proved to be correct as they came away from Mortimer Park with a 17-36 win.
A 20-minute spell just after half-time swung the game in the I’s favour as they ran in four unanswered tries. This was Hull Ionians’ seventh straight victory and they have a three point lead at the top of the division. As for the Luctonians, this was an enthusiastic and a much improved performance, but have they now lost their last five matches and sit 15th in the table with currently the worst form in the league.
Coach’s View - Ampthill Head Coach Paul Turner:
"A fine performance in which we were precise and accurate with few unforced errors. Hull were a good side who had us on the back foot for 20 minutes in the first half and who never gave up."
Ampthill and District did their job to stay in touch with Hull Ionians as they thrashed Hull 3-67 this first ever meeting between the sides. Ampthill ran in 11 tries to show their dominance in this game. As for Hull, this was their worst defeat in this league for many years and were fielding a weaker side than usual due to five first team players being out injured. Hull slip back down to 14th position in the table with one win in their last five matches.
Now to the teams battling it out below the top two with there being just 10 points separating third from eighth in the table. Third place Chester’s trip to Harrogate ended in defeat as they lost 38-15 at the County Ground.
Both sides were hit by injury before this game, but nevertheless put on a superb game of rugby. Chester have now lost two of their last three matches and Harrogate returned to winning ways after their defeat to Hull Ionians last weekend. This was also the home side’s second win in five against Chester and they now sit sixth in the table.
I said in my preview last week that game and of the weekend would come at Paton Field as Caldy entertained Sedgley Park and it certainly did not disappoint. The hosts continued their 100 per cent home record this season as they won 40-34 to end The Tigers’ three match unbeaten run.It was a game that saw the Tigers pack dominate but a 10 minute period of sublime rugby from Caldy on 65 minutes saw them surge ahead.
The Tigers attempted an unlikely come back in the final 5 minutes of the game with some high risk attacking rugby; it didn’t work and with this victory Caldy moved into the top four and with just one defeat in their last five games.
As for Sedgley, they move down to seventh in the league, but with it being so tight in the top half and with the quality in they have in their squad, they could easily be back in the top four after next weekend.
Coach’s View - Stockport Coach Matthew Bebbington:
"Due to their scrum we lost a platform where we could attack from this afternoon. They were bigger than us and the forwards couldn’t get any purchase to lock out so that contest ended which wasn’t great.
"We couldn’t get any parity at the scrum just because of the size of their pack and if we look back at the game, 80-85 per cent of their territory came from either our scrum and winning the ball or their scrum and winning a penalty. If you take that platform away, it’s tough."
***
Preston Coach Garth Dew:
"I thought the start was unacceptable, if you give that many points away at the start then you’re never going to get back into the game.
"I was pleased with the second half, where we came back, for a young set of lads; they could have capitulated under the circumstances. But we still conceded 30 points early on and that’s what I’m focusing on really.”
Fifth-placed Otley claimed an important victory on Saturday as they beat Stockport 41-12 at Cross Green. The home side had lost three of their last four matches heading into this one and overpowered Stockport at the scrum which was a major factor in this win.
Four first half tries from Harry Hudson, Joseph Armitage, Jack Mackie and Stephen Depledge highlighted Otley’s dominance. Andy Fuller and Chris Roddy’s tries did give Stockport something to cheer about in the second half, but they did go on to concede three more tries as Arnold Ellison, Jonathan Stannard and a penalty try rounded off another difficult afternoon on the road for Port.
Stockport remain bottom of the division and are still yet to win on the road, but have shown signs of turning their season around in recent weeks.
Stourbridge finally moved into the top half of the table on Saturday evening after they beat Preston Grasshoppers 46-36 in a thriller at Stourton Park. Full back Colban Ryan broke a club record as he scored 36 individual points for Stourbridge. He overtook Ali Bressington who had scored 35 points back in 2008. This was Preston’s seventh straight defeat against Stourbridge and they remain tenth after this narrow defeat.
The reason Stourbridge moved into the top-half was also down to Leicester Lions suffering a 14-21 home defeat at the hands of Broadstreet who are one of the in-form sides in the league at the moment. This was the Lions’ second defeat at home this season.
Broadstreet have now won their last three matches and are starting to move away from the bottom sides in the league, but are firmly keeping their feet on the ground after these superb recent performances. Broadstreet are now up to 13th in the table.
Last but not least was Huddersfield against Birmingham and Solihull and the visitors came away with a 14-22 win. The Bees have performed well in the past few weeks and were finally rewarded with this excellent victory and close the gap on the top eight in the league.
This was another tough afternoon for Huddesrfield who have enjoyed some impressive performances at Lockwood Park this season but on this occasion some slack defending and an inability to break down the Birmingham & Solihull defence cost them. The hosts have now not won in four and 11th with Birmingham and Solihull just a point behind.
