John Mooney: Lambwath vs Three Tuns
After last week's strong performance against Brownies Bulldogs, Lambwath Lions visited Massey Street for the second successive week on Saturday, this time to take on the much more formidable Three Tuns. Arriving with just 15 fit players, the Lions were always likely to struggle though did take an early lead when Craig Cracknell charged over under the posts for Calvin Foster to convert but that was about as good as it got for the visitors.
The powerful Tuns' forwards soon took total command and tries rained in from all angles. The Lions, to their great credit, never gave up and replied with several scores of their own in a game played in an excellent atmosphere but a final scoreline of 52-22 showed the gap between the sides. Three Tuns were using the game as a warm-up for next week's visit to East Leeds in the quarter-finals of the Yorkshire Cup, in which they hope to go one better than last year when just beaten in the Final by the now defunct Fryston. They appear to have strengthened this campaign with the likes of Ben Rowan now playing regularly at half-back and Nathan Powley, one of the top hookers in the NRL Premier Division, joining regulars Paul and Ash Shaw, Jordan Rowan and Carl Pettman in a powerful line-up.
North Hull will also be in Yorkshire Cup-mode this week when they travel to Sharlston for what should be a tough encounter. The Knights fought off a spirited Brownies Bulldogs at Shaw Park on Saturday for a 32-10 victory and there is growing confidence amongst Liam Welham's men that they can go all the way this campaign.
In the only other Open Age game on Saturday, Bransholme made the short journey to Reckiits and came away with a 40-24 victory.