The seconds got off to a shaky start, going behind 28-0 at half time to a well-drilled Ashton side. This game saw the return of young fly half James Hyland and Faisel Tijani after long injury lay offs. The pair combined early in the second half to score North’s first points. Hyland collected the ball from the back of a scrum and raced past his marker before releasing Tijani through a gap to score just right of the posts. Hyland added the simple conversion to make the score 28-7.

Debutants Josh Hardy and Callum Spud had tremendous games on the wing and in the 2nd row. Both of them played a part in North’s next try. Spud stole the ball in a ruck in his own 22 and passed the ball to Hardy who launched the ball down field. Try machine Kyle Howard outpaced his opponent to collect the ball on halfway; he then went up a gear to outpace the cover defence to score in the corner. This was the youngsters 10th try in 6 games. Hyland soon found his kicking form again and added the difficult conversion from the touchline.

Ashton scored again soon after, but North heads never went down. Sam Walsh was having an excellent 1st game at prop and his effort was outstanding. It was he who turned the ball over in a maul and the North forwards drove forward. The ball broke out to Howard who ran across field beating defender after defender, before releasing Tajini to score his 2nd try of the afternoon. Hyland added the simple conversion to keep his 100% record for the 2nd XV.

North battled to the end but it was too late so change the outcome. There were outstanding performances all over the field for North including captain Gordon Morrison and centre Matt Saxon, but man of the match goes to Josh Hardy for his excellent 1st game on the wing.