A late rally brought Huddersfield YMCA some reward from their trip to Billingham in National II North at Greenwood Road.
Facing the team above them in mid-table, YMCA made a good enough start and had led 10-7, but looked set to leave the north east with nothing for their efforts until two late tries earned them two bonus points.
They were facing a Billingham side eager to end a three-match losing run in the league and tries from Dan Burns, Peter Evans, Anth Jackson, Chris Hopkins, Shaun Wallace and Craig Shepherd earned the hosts a valuable bonus point victory.
However, the home side were caught cruising in the final 10 minutes with their lead at 36-20, and YMCA had to be pleased with their resilience of not the overall result.
After back-to-back defeats at Rossendale and Cleckheaton, Billingham were eager and they got off to a good start on home soil.
Gavin Stead gave Huddersfield an early lead with a penalty, but on 18 minutes Burns charged over to hand Billingham the advantage.
On an afternoon when flowing rugby was in constant supply, the visitors hit back almost instantly when winger Tom Bullock touched down, before Billingham full-back Peter Evans’ solo effort left the score at 14-10.
Another Stead penalty drew Huddersfield to within one point, but a superb break from Hyndman saw him offload to Jackson who ran unchallenged under the posts.
But Billingham’s Achilles heel came back to haunt them again before half-time, conceding a try moments after they had scored one of their own – this time Huddersfield lock Jamie Bell finishing from close range.
With the scoreline at 21-20, the second half looked as though it could be a tight affair, but three quick-fire Billingham tries wrapped up the win – Hopkins, Wallace and Shepherd all struck within 15 minutes to hand the hosts an unassailable lead.
However, a late collapse saw Billingham give away two cheap scores – one a penalty try after an infringement at the scrum – and YMCA at least returned south with something to show for their efforts.
