Harrogate vs Westoe

In the last move of the match, Jake Brady’s injury time try, converted by Mike Aspinall, won a very tight game for Harrogate.

Harrogate went into an early lead following a powerful Kyle Dench midfield break. His centre partner, Steve Parsons carried on the move and Aspinall’s miss pass found Ed Smithies in space on the right wing. Jamie Broadley took the final pass and wrong footed the defence to score.

Harrogate looked the more dangerous side in possession but, as conditions deteriorated, more handling errors occurred and the game became a forward dogfight. A midfield dropped pass surrendered possession to Westoe and the ball was hacked upfield for No8, Scott, to score and put Westoe on level terms.

Harrogate regained the lead with the last move of the half. A well constructed three-quarter move followed a Parsons break and Broadley’s second try was converted by Aspinall.

The forward battle continued after the restart with Harrogate’s pack matching their powerful counterparts. Westoe’s Gareth Nesbit was as formidable as ever but his efforts were largely nullified by the scrummaging of Harrogate’s Jimmy Browne. Ryan Peacey and Tim Heaton worked tirelessly in defence and attack, making good use of a stream of line-out possession from James Spencer. Browne was at the heart of everything.

Westoe eventually broke the deadlock with a try which, again, came from a Harrogate dropped ball in midfield. A series of Westoe driving mauls resulted in a second try for Scott.

Harrogate continued to attack but a combination of handling errors and good Westoe defence kept them out. Another Westoe try came from yet another bit of midfield mishandling from Harrogate. Westoe drove towards the Harrogate line and, when the ball was chipped forward, Harrogate were judged to have illegally prevented a score and a penalty try was awarded, converted by Rayner.

This put Westoe into a 5 point lead with twelve minutes of normal time remaining. Harrogate set up wave after wave of attacks but Westoe’s desperate defence held out until the 6th minute of injury time. Brady drove over near the posts from a driving maul to level the scores. Aspinall’s conversion, with the final kick of the match, dashed the cup of victory from Westoe’s lips.

Harrogate: Smithies, McGee, Dench, Parsons, Broadley (Harris 75), Aspinall, Wickham (Davies 75), Sowerey, Hannan (Yorke 71), Browne, Spencer, Lewis (63), Heaton, Maslaveckas, Peacey.

Westoe: Rayson, C Clark, J Clark, Myers, McNaught, Rayner, Judson, Nesbit, Tennet, Elliott, Burnham, Robinson, Nutchall, Ellery, Scott

Referee: Matt Daubney (RFU)