Manchester Knights 14 Bradford Dudley Hill 28

From the Telegraph & Argus, first published Monday 7th Jun 2004.

A stunning long-range try from wingman Mick Piper inspired Bradford Dudley Hill to a welcome LHF Healthplan National Division Three success at Manchester Knights.

Hill began nervously and fell behind to an early unconverted try to Ryan Knight, but the lightning pace of Piper soon put them firmly back in the hunt with an 80-metre dash to the whitewash.

Full back Lee Innes added the extras to put the visitors into a lead that they never looked likely to relinquish.

Centre Jason Lee collected a smart pass from scrum half Liam Jarvis to cross shortly afterwards, and Jarvis was then quick to spot a gap to scoot over for a fine individual effort.

With just minutes left in the half, Liam Jordan powered onto a short ball for a typical forward's try which, together with two Innes conversions, put Hill into the interval 22-4 up.

The Manchester side caught Hill cold on the restart when Knight crossed for his second, converted by Mick Bassett, but the impressive Jarvis punished the hosts further when he sped in for his brace.

Hill's back-row forwards Andy Warren and Jordan frustrated the Knights with their copybook cover tackling, and substitute prop Mark Chivers was a real handful when he entered the fray.

Manchester second-row forward Richard Lofthouse managed a late consolation effort, but by that time the points were well and truly on the way back to Parry Lane.

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