Huddersfield RUFC made it two wins from two with a comprehensive 30-15 home win against Doncaster Phoenix.

Tries from Austen Thompson, Elliott Hodgson and Nick Sharpe, along with a flawless kicking display from Chris Bell, gave Field another four points as they have started the National III North campaign showing their intent to quickly return to higher status.

Head coach Gareth Lewis was forced to make a change before kick-off as Mark Pease had an injury, and Danny Grainger came in at inside centre.

Early Doncaster mistakes gave Huddersfield a chance from a lineout, which was won by Nick Rhodes, and as conceded a penalty Bell had no problem in putting the ball between the sticks for the first score.

Field were then forced into defensive mode for a period, but they held Doncaster up on the try line.

After working the ball out of danger, Lewis’ side were awarded a scrum in a good position and Thompson broke clear to cross whitewash for the first try – Bell added the conversion.

Huddersfield RUFC v Doncaster Phoenix at Lockwood Park.

Doncaster got their first points when Jamie Lennard kicked a penalty, but just moments later Huddersfield were in again for their second try.

A good kick from Bell from the restart bounced perfectly for the Field to regain possession, and after neat work Hodgson split the Phoenix defence with a burst of acceleration and went over the line – Bell added the conversion with ease.

The Phoenix were on top, but when Tom Owen and Thompson were sin-binned, Field found themselves defending with their backs to the wall and Doncaster did break down the door and Lennard’s conversion made it 17-10.

A minute later Doncaster scored again with Field still down to 13 men, James Wright found space down the right hand side and, when Kristian Sharples just missed out on tackling him, he broke through to give his side an opportunity to draw level, but Lennard dragged his conversion wide.

Once back at strength Field ensured they took a 24-15 lead into half-time as Sharpe got his second try in as many games and Bell again made no mistake to give his side a nine-point advantage.

Huddersfield RUFC v Doncaster Phoenix at Lockwood Park - Elliott Hodgson sets off to score Huddersfield's second try.

The second half saw very few chances as both well-structured defences took control.

Grainger went close to scoring an early try in the second period for Field, but play was brought back for an earlier foul and Bell added three more for the Lockwood Park side.

A painful looking cut to the ear meant Bell had to come off midway through the second half, but he returned and put another penalty over to take his tally to 15 for the day and Huddersfield’s to 30 as they became only the fourth team in over two seasons to beat Doncaster.

“It’s a very good start to the season for the boys,” said coach Lewis.

“I thought our defence, again, was the difference between the sides.”

“We didn’t show our attacking shape as much as we’d like to in the second half.

“At the stage when we were down to thirteen men we showed the character and belief we’ve got with each other and we were still a hard team to break down.

“We are delighted to get two wins from two.”

“He (Grainger) was a bit disappointed last week with the selection but he came in today and did really well.

“He expressed the reasons why he should be playing and he backed them up today, so I’m very happy for him.

Huddersfield RUFC v Doncaster Phoenix at Lockwood Park - Elliott Hodgson.

“It was a very good game of rugby today, and one of the best I’ve seen us in a long time. I was pleased with the set pieces.”

“I thought Nick Rhodes, Francis Entressengle, Ben Hoyle and just the forwards in general in how they controlled and gave us that platform was superb.”

“The only thing, and it’s perhaps because of my competitive nature, which is annoying is that we didn’t get that bonus point at the end. If we controlled that driving maul, we would have got a five-point win but I am still pleased overall.”

In light of Doncaster Phoenix’s coach tweet following the game that his side played “all the rugby”, Lewis said:

“Maybe his team did play the rugby but we played the winning rugby, and that’s what counts at the end of the day”.

Lewis’ side now face a trip to the Lake District as they play Kendal, who enjoyed a 26-19 win away at Firwood Waterloo, next Saturday (3pm).

Huddersfield RUFC: Lewis Workman; Kristian Sharples, Elliott Hodgson, Danny Grainger, Tom Owen; Chris Bell, Dan Jeffrey: Adam Tamanis, Francis Entressengle, Alex Battye, Nick Rhodes, Austen Thompson, Lewis Bradley, Ben Hoyle, Nick Sharpe. Replacements: Brandon Conway, Reuben Pollard, Adam Malthouse

Huddersfield YMCA won 27-20 at Dinnington in North I East – report in tomorrow’s Examiner Sport.