A casual Mike Aspinall attempt at a drop goal conversion missed but they still seemed to have the game won. Ten minutes later, Harrogate’s flanker, Chris Wilson, was red carded for an alleged stamping offence, the pattern of the game changed and Huddersfield went into attacking mode. Two tries in the last 10 minutes and a touchline conversion from Chris Johnson stunned the home supporters.

Harrogate started shakily, an Aspinall clearance was charged down and Huddersfield drove for the Harrogate line. The defence went offside and Chris Johnson opened Huddersfield’s account with a straightforward penalty kick. Harrogate steadied themselves and went on the attack for the rest of the half. Their forwards delivered consistently good ball from which the backs set up dangerous attacking moves in wet and windy conditions. After a series of Harrogate driving mauls, Huddersfield went offside and a quickly taken penalty on the left led to recycled ball and Wilson squeezed in to score in the right corner.

The Harrogate attacks continued and Jamie Broadley carved a hole in the resolute Huddersfield defence, Kyle Dench carried the move on and the ever present Tim Heaton supported well to score Under the posts and give Aspinall a straightforward conversion.

Another Johnson penalty reduced the arrears but the Harrogate attacking pattern continued for the rest of the half.

From the restart, a sharp break from scrum half, Tom Bugge, made good ground though he then lost the ball in contact. Huddersfield then set up a driving maul but Andy Fraser won great turnover ball to release Bugge once again. This time his break took him into open space, Broadley was in support and took the scoring pass to touch down under the posts.

The missed conversion seemed to spur Huddersfield on and their pack launched a series of driving mauls. The unfortunate Wilson red carding lost Harrogate their edge in the scrums and the visiting backs showed their attacking potential for the first time in the game. James Wood broke strongly on the right and this led to a Huddersfield attacking scrum. The extra man advantage told in the scrum and created good ball from which flanker, Nick Sharpe, drove over to score a converted try. Further Huddersfield attacks followed and replacement Jack Andrews touched down leading to an outstanding Johnson touchline conversion against the elements.

Harrogate refused to abandon their attacking principles and then spurned a kickable penalty opportunity which would have levelled the scores. Instead, they kicked for the corner to go for an attacking line-out but the Huddersfield defence held firm

Harrogate: Smithies, Rothwell, Dench, Broadley, Bottomley, Aspinall, Browne, Maycock, Fraser (Innes 61), Brady (Enston 75), Lodge (Reaveley), Rieder, Wilson, Heaton

Huddersfield: Owen, Wood, Paxman, Van Rooyen, Hall, Johnson, Hinchcliffe, Slater, Morrill, Stringwell, Lee, Rhodes, Sharpe, Lewis, Hyde (Andrews )

Referee: Tom Davis (RFU)

Match report by Bill Barrack
Photos by David Aspinall