Sale knocked off top spot by South Leicester

Sale FC’s unbeaten start to the National Two North season came to an end in Round Four as South Leicester defeated them at Welford Road.

Sale now drop down to third after this defeat while Stourbridge and Sedgley Park move into the top two as their winning ways continued on Saturday.

Harrogate are still searching for their first win of the season as they fell to defeat at the Luctonians while six of the other bottom eight sides all lost this weekend.

Stourbridge 45-20 Scunthorpe

Stourbridge have moved top of the National Two North table following a comfortable bonus-point win over newly promoted Scunthorpe at Stourton Park.

The hosts were 33-3 ahead at the break with Joe Heatley, Ciaran Moore, Chris Depper, Nigel Mukarati and Sam Wilkes all going over.

Scunthorpe reacted well after the break as Nick Dyson dotted down along with Ash Dibdin and Sam Morgan, but Stour stayed in control as Ashley Elvers crossed the whitewash.

Heatley grabbed his second late on while the league’s leading points scorer, Luke White, landed five conversions as Neil Mitchell’s side secured their fourth victory in a row.

Hinckley 21-33 Sedgley Park

Sedgley Park maintained their 100 per cent start to the season after a hard fought victory against Hinckley in the Midlands.

Dean Scofield’s men deserved their bonus-point win over the newly-promoted side after leading 21-0 at the break in this contest.

But Hinckley rallied back after half-time as George Marsden and Jacob Umaga each scored while the hosts were also awarded a Penalty Try. Connor Eastgate kicked all three conversions, but it was Sedge who claimed the victory and are now up to second in the table.

South Leicester 42-39 Sale FC

Sale FC suffered their first defeat of the season as they fell to a narrow loss away at South Leicester.

The Manchester based side had begun the new campaign with three straight wins, but they came unstuck at Welford Road.

South were 29-10 up at the break in a first half which the home side controlled for large spells before Sale hit back after half-time and left the Midlands with two bonus points of their own.

Five second half tries including scores from Jack Moorhouse, Gareth Rawlings and Ben Curry did see Sale score 22 unanswered points to take the lead in this contest, but South had the final say with their fifth try of the afternoon to secure their second win in as many weeks.

Preston Grasshoppers 20-39 Caldy                     

Caldy made it three wins on the spin with an assured victory over Preston Grasshoppers at Lightfoot Green.

The Wirral outfit began this contest strongly with tries from Nick Royle and Jack Lavin inside 15 minutes.

A penalty from Lavin helped Caldy into a 15-0 lead with a quarter of this game gone before Sam Russell got Preston on the board for the afternoon with an unconverted try.

Garth Dew’s men continued to force their way back into the match and were level just after half-time following a try from Luke Proctor and a penalty from Lewis Allen.

But the Hoppers were the masters of their own downfall as errors allowed Royle to complete his hat-trick and although Charlie Hough gave his side hope with another unconverted try, Caldy had the last word as Lavin touched down after Preston prop Pete Altham had been sinbinned.

Sheffield Tigers 26-41 Leicester Lions

Leicester Lions bounced back from defeat against the Luctonians last week with a bonus-point win in an entertaining encounter with Sheffield Tigers in Yorkshire.

Tries from Danny Hartwell and Marco Dallavalle as well as 10 points from the boot of Jon Boden came before the break only after Jamie Broadley and Henri Packard had given Sheffield the lead.

The Lions were then unstoppable after the interval as Harry Mahoney, Sam Lewis and Jamel Hamilton all crossed.

The outstanding Boden kicked 16 points before Broadley and Packard scored again to secure a bonus-point for the Tigers.

Luctonians 35-5 Harrogate

Harrogate remain the only side in National Two North without a win this season as they suffered another defeat, this time away at the Luctonians.

Steven Maycock scored an early try for Harrogate, but that was as good as it got for the men from Ruddling Lane.

The Lucts’ first try came through Johnny Morris before Tom Jones scampered over with fly-half Louis Silver converting.

Harrogate started to tire in the second half and their afternoon went from bad to worse when Willem Enslin was sent to the sin bin.

Lucts capitalised and with Silver kicking two penalties, the home side took the game away from Harrogate and rounded off a comfortable afternoon’s work when Will Hodnett and Alex Smith added further tries.

Tynedale 35-10 Wharfedale

Tynedale made it back to back wins on their return to Corbridge thanks to this bonus point victory over Wharfedale in the North-East.

A brace from Joe Milles and tries via Peter Southern and Aedon Maloney helped Tyne record their second victory of the season on home turf.

Further scores came from Graeme Dunn and Jonny Mock, with Jack Taylor kicking five points.

Outclassed Dale rarely threatened, with their only score coming from a Penalty Try and five points from the boot of James Guy.

Otley 15-10 Chester

Otley recovered from their heavy defeat at Sedgley Park as they came from behind to beat Chester in this encounter at Cross Green.

Chester took a 15 minute lead through Will Bown before a Kyle Joseph try but the away side 10-0 up, a lead which they carried into half-time.

After rueing missed opportunities in the first period, it took Otley just five minutes after the restart to go in front in this contest as James Wood and Henry Roberts dotted down while Tom Hodson added one conversion.

The game was still in the balance heading into the final minutes of this match, but Hodson slotted over a penalty to secure the Yorkshire sides second triumph of the campaign.