Wibsey Warriors 38 St Joseph's 34

 Two second-half tries from outstanding loose forward Harry Hall put Wibsey through to the second round of the Pennine League President’s Cup in a high-scoring encounter at Northfield Road.

Visitors St Joes may be at the bottom of the Pennine League Premier Division but the Warriors knew they were in for a tough game following their 44-34 home league success and the cause was made even more difficult with the withdrawal of four first-team players prior to the kick off.

It appeared plain sailing when centre Nick Fontaine breezed over early doors, with scrum half Andy Robinson adding the extras, but the Huddersfield outfit silenced the big crowd with a purple patch led by stand-off Sam Hendricks.

He put Mike Lang clear to the whitewash and produced a raking kick behind the cover defence on the left flank to provide the centre with his second shortly afterwards.

St Joes substitute Liam Donlon then crossed just before the break and Hendricks slotted over his third conversion to put the visitors firmly in charge at 18-6.

Wibsey’s strength in depth was evident with the debut of talented youngster Alex Destouche from the bench but it was the evergreen Robinson who clawed back the deficit with a converted try for the all-important first points of the second half.

The Warriors slipped into erratic mode, which was punished by a Hendricks six-pointer, before prop Charles Marsh barged his way over. Hall then took the game by the scruff of the neck with a strong run to the chalk and Robinson was on target to reduce the arrears to just two points.

St Joseph’s refused to go away however, with hooker Daz Kelly burrowing his way over from short range.

Full back Ryan Smith showed his class to sprint in and Robinson obliged to level the score at 28-28.

The impressive Hall justified his man of the match award with a scything run that scuttled the visitors’ defence to claim his brace, leaving Robinson to kick his fifth conversion of the match.

When BARLA international prop Chris Vogel increased the advantage it looked at last to be the Warriors’ day but they had to endure another nail-biting ordeal when the belligerent visitors loose forward Joe Flaherty posted a late converted effort that put them in jeopardy once more.

However, they kept their nerve and emerged as worthy winners in what was a cracking cup tie.