Leodiensians 41, Bradford Salem 24

Bradford Salem’s promotion hopes took a dent as they lost to a well-organised Leodiensians side who moved into top spot.

However, the victory was not as easy as the scoreline suggests, Salem gifting their opponents two tries in the second half which proved to be the difference.

Leos went ahead when live-wire full back Neal Liu danced through some slack defence to score a fine effort in the corner. Fly-half James Henry landed the touchline conversion and added two penalties to extend his side’s advantage to 13 points at the break.

In the second half, Salem played with more structure as Romanian second rower Alex Savin forced his way over for his third try in as many games and Robinson added the extras. He also kicked a penalty to get his side back in the hunt at 13-10.

Turnover ball saw Henry’s cross-kick result in a try as the hosts regained control but Salem full back Chris Savva supported an inside pass from debutant winger Danny Thomas to score a fine try under the sticks.

However, Leos were gifted a try when Ian Woodwiss failed to deal with Henry’s speculative kick ahead. Thomas touched down again to put Salem 34-24 behind but Liu scored his second try to make the margin of victory flattering.