This time, Harrogate had raced into a first half 0-20 lead before Caldy fought back and Harrogate had to defend desperately to cling on to a narrow winning score.

A powerful Harrogate scrum set the tone for a dominant opening though Caldy forwards, Jack Collister and Tom Sanders ran strongly from limited possession. Harrogate captain, Jake Brady had another towering match from lock and Guy Coser foraged tirelessly all game to win crucial turnovers. This was a magnificent all round pack performance with Charley Purkiss-McEndoo scrummaging strongly as well as making bursting runs through the home defence.

Harrogate’s backs made good use of this possession and, when Caldy’s defence went offside, a Lewis Minikin penalty opened the scoring. Sustained Harrogate pressure followed and a 20 metres driving maul ended with Guy Coser touching down for a converted try. Caldy then went offside from another big Harrogate driving maul and Minikin’s penalty extended the lead.

A scintillating Callum Irvine break, supported by strong running from Sam Bottomley, led to all the backs linking well to put Minikin in for a converted try which put Harrogate into an apparently unassailable lead. However, a missed touch kick led to a Caldy counter attack from deep and centre, Tom Banks made the extra man for a try converted by Jack Lavin.

This made it 7-20 at the break and Harrogate then made a mess of Caldy’s restart kick. Substitute Caldy prop, Derek Salisbury had stiffened their scrum and a powerful drive led to the ball being spread wide for Nick Royle to score in the corner and make it 12-20. Stung by this, Harrogate’s attacks intensified. Charles Morgan and Irvine linked well to give Steve Parsons just enough space to burst through the defence and score.

This made it 12-25 but another ill directed Harrogate kick resulted in Royle’s exceptional pace taking him over for a
converted try. Harrogate went straight back on the offensive, Caldy went offside and it was 19-28 with 15 minutes remaining.

Caldy continued to attack at every opportunity and yet another missed Harrogate clearance led to Sanders scoring a try in support of good backs play. The conversion made it 26-28 but, when Harrogate counter attacked, a high tackle on Irvine gave away a penalty. Although this turned out to be the final score, the game was far from over. Repeated Caldy attacks tested Harrogate’s defence but they held out for a narrow win. Caldy fully deserved their 2 bonus points.

Caldy: Soutar, F Edwards, Roberts, Banks, Royle, Lavin, Broxton, Parker, Dowridge, Rushton, McGowan, Sanders, Weir, Davidson, Collister. Subs:- Salisbury, Crowe, Cross,Elliot, Jones.

Harrogate: Morgan, Bottomley, Minikin, L Edwards, Parsons, Irvine, Wickham, Purkiss-McEndoo, Maycock, Reaveley, J Brady, S Brady, J Coser, G Coser, Heaton. Subs:- Wilson, Ward, Harvey, London, Yorke.

Referee: Andy Taylorson (RFU)

Match report by Bill Barrack
Match photos by David Aspinall