Harrogate attacked from the start and stand-off Mike Aspinall took a difficult pass off his bootlaces to feed James Morland who scored in the left corner. Joe Rowntree’s attempted touchline conversion bounced back into play off the upright. A crunching Andy Boyde tackle ended a Broadstree attempt to run out of defence and more home attacks followed. No8 Willem Enslin was then held up just short of the line with support outside him calling for the ball. The pressure continued with another driving maul and, when Broadstreet went off side, Rowntree’s penalty extended the home lead.

Broadstreet were still very much on the defensive but Harrogate were penalised for holding and went offside from the subsequent Broadstreet line-out to give Palmer his first successful penalty. A try seemed inevitable from a Harrogate attacking chip but the ball was knocked on in the touching down process . The home scrum dominated at this stage and drove strongly from 5 metres out for scrum half, Danny Matthews to score. An adjudged home scrum offence then gave Broadstreet another penalty and Palmer’s kick kept them within reach of Harrogate. Play was almost entirely in the Broadstreet half but a Harrogate offside offence let Palmer edge the Broadstreet score still closer to make it 13-9 at half time.

The second half started with powerful Harrogate forward drives from Enslin, Jake Brady and Tom Harvey. More driving mauls followed and, in his 90th Harrogate 1st Team game, Tom Harvey drove over for his maiden try. This put Harrogate 9 points ahead but another penalty from the ever reliable Palmer brought Broadstreet back into touching distance and a home scrum offence soon gave him yet another 3 points.

A Broadstreet offside offence led to Rowntree extending the home lead but Harrogate were then penalised for crossing in what was almost Broadstreet’s first visit into the home 22. Street set up driving mauls and were awarded a penalty try which also resulted in a yellow card for Boyde. The conversion gave Broadstreet their single point lead and was the final score of the match.

Harrogate: Rowntree, Parrish, Minikin, Morland, Bottomley, Aspinall, Matthews, Boyde, Yorke, Reaveley, Brady, Harvey, Coser, K Wood, Enslin. Subs (all used) Dewsnip, Kirkley, Brougham, Aspin, Wickham.

Broadstreet: Cooper, Gregson, Murray, Carney, J Palmer, B Palmer, Thatcher, Forman, Worthington, Dodd, Crofts, Soloman, Wright, Turner, C Wood. Subs (all used) Harrop, Sandys, Pearl, Martin, Wisniewski.

Referee: Matt Turvey (North)

Match report by Bill Barrack

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