By Richard Sykes
Huddersfield RUFC went down to a second successive defeat this season losing 30-40 to Scunthorpe at Lockwood Park.
Scunthorpe scored six tries to Field’s four and head coach Danny Brough said a poor start cost his side again.
“We lost the game in the first 20 minutes basically,” he said. “We made too many errors, couldn’t win our own set pieces and coughed up too much ball.
“We scored enough points to win and at times worked the ball well through the phases. We scored some nice tries but having scored we let them back into the game too easily. We have to learn to show more respect for the ball.”
Will Milner gave Field an early lead with a penalty on two minutes but the mistakes soon crept into their game and helped Scunthorpe build an 18-point lead by the end of the first quarter.
Scunthorpe’s opener came after Field lost a lineout on half way. Play moved into the home side’s 22 and ended with Dyson dotting down in the maul after the hosts were penalised.
Minutes later Dyson set up his brother Nick for his team’s second, a well-timed offload giving the big lock the easiest of finishes. Fly-half Ethan Taylor converted both.
Twenty minutes into the game No8 Billy Hammond became the first of two Field players to be sinbinned within the space of five minutes.
He saw yellow for hauling back the Scunthorpe scrum-half after a quick tap penalty. The next penalty went to touch and Dyson bagged his second try in similar fashion to his first, Taylor once again added the extras.
Field hooker Ethan Myers, on the occasion of his 50th appearance, was next to get his marching orders after taking out a man in the air from the restart.
Playing with 13 men Field settled and played some controlled rugby and Milner narrowed the gap with a second penalty.
On the stroke of half-time Scunthorpe lost possession on halfway and the ball was passed to Kian Stewart on the left wing.
He did the legwork and centre Lewis Workman rounded off the move with a try after running a supporting line. Will Milner converted to make the half-time score 21-11 to Scunthorpe.
The second half started badly for Field. They knocked on from the whistle, Scunthorpe took play into the red zone and when Field were penalised for collapsing a driving maul the visitors were awarded a penalty try. Field flanker Tom Haywood carried the can for the collapse to the sin bin.
From the restart Field winger Finlay Stewart produced a moment of brilliance. He leapt majestically to take the high ball, spinning out of the tackle to make good ground on landing.
Workman continued the forward momentum and although Scunthorpe managed to halt the attack they did so illegally and scrum-half Matty Briggs nipped in opportunistically for a try after a swiftly taken tap penalty. Milner converted.
Scunthorpe restored their advantage immediately, Taylor racing in after securing turnover ball to score and convert a try on the left flank.
On the hour mark Hammond got a third try for Field after Scunthorpe were pegged back by a penalty. Full-back Ritchie Hawkyard cut deftly inside and Scunthorpe conceded successive penalties in defence of their line before Hammond crashed over from short range between the sticks to give Milner an easy two pointer.
With five minutes to go pack power yielded one final score for Scunthorpe. Their pack had posed problems for Field from early on after Field lost the services of experienced Loz Sanderson through injury.
Will Dale, on as a replacement, was the man to touch down from another penalty, lineout, driving maul sequence.
Field, however, were not quite done. In open play Milner crafted an immaculate crossfield kick straight into the arms of the advancing Workman.
He sprinted down the touchline and although he was tackled just short he managed to get the ball away to Haywood for the bonus point try.
Huddersfield: Hawkyard; Stewart K; Workman; Horsfall; Stewart F; Milner; Briggs; Thompson; Myers; Sanderson; Barnard; Lloyd; Parfitt; Haywood; Hammond. Replacements: McFarlin; Christian; Dalton.
Image by: RAY MORRIS
