Club rugby: Flanker's five-pointer secures bonus point five minutes from time for Wharfedale

The North Yorkshire outfit found themselves behind early on, and things got no better on 27 minutes as flanker Matt Houghton was shown the red card. But this only seemed to spur the hosts on.

Prop David Laverick gave Ionians an early lead after 11 minutes and despite Wharfedale going down to 14 men they soon opened their account with hooker Daniel Stockdale scoring twice before the break.

Prop Reece Ward added another for the home side on 52 minutes, and Jack Blakeney-Edwards added another conversion to make it 19-5 to Wharfedale.

The visitors pulled back a try through replacement Alex Forth and Lewis Minikin converted to close the gap to 19-12, but flanker Chris Walker scored with five minutes left to secure a bonus point victory for Wharfedale.

Thomas De Glanville’s try shortly before half-time proved to be Otley’s only one of the match, as hosts Preston Grasshoppers won 25-10.

Scrum-half Joe Rowntree kicked the conversion to add to an earlier penalty, but it wasn’t enough to challenge the Lancashire side who had opened up a 17-0 lead before Otley put any points on the board.

Huddersfield boosted their National 2 North campaign with a 28-23 win over Leicester Lions.

Despite two tries in quick succession through Lewis Workman and Mark Chivers, Huddersfield found themselves 15-14 down at the half.

Huddersfield’s Dickie Piper opened the second half scoring with a try before Harry Whitfield gave the Yorkshire team an unassailable lead with another.

Sheffield Tigers beat fourth-placed Fylde 17-12, but had to battle back after trailing for much of the first half.

Stand-off Mark Ireland kicked a penalty after 14 minutes, but they were behind 7-3 until the 39th minute when No 8 Ed Simmons touched down, Ireland converting.

Centre Tom Hart crashed over five minutes later, Ireland converting, and although Fylde pulled back another try Tigers held on to the lead.

Elsewhere Rotherham Titans lost out by one point at Sale, the hosts winning the National One clash 13-12.

Second row Kieran Frost ran over for the game’s first try to give Rotherham the lead before Sale hit back 10 minutes later.

Titans’ winger Henry Roberts touched down three minutes after the break to extend their lead to seven points. But Sale were resilient and it took them only another eight minutes to claw themselves back ahead with a try and penalty.

Missed kicks affected both sides, with Rotherham seeing three penalty attempts and a conversion go wide of the mark.

Hull secured a convincing 89-0 win over second-bottom Kendal, running in 13 tries to maintain their lead in the North Premier league.

Harrogate closed the gap to Blaydon in third with a win over them at home. Hooker Aarin Yorke ran over for two tries with No 8 Jonathan Coser and second row Samuel Brady adding the others either side of the half to record a 24-13 win over the North East side.

Elsewhere, Ilkley fell to previously second-bottom side Vale of Lune 24-17.

Huddersfield YMCA got back to winning ways in North One East with a 26-13 victory over Cleckheaton, whilst Morpeth and Scarborough faced off in a battle of the top two which saw Morpeth leapfrog their opponents with a 34-13 win.

An all-West Yorkshire affair between West Leeds and Bradford & Bingley ended with the Leeds side taking the spoils 26-24, a much-needed win which boosts their battle to avoid relegation.