As is becoming all too common, the refereeing of the set pieces was lax but, after several questionable decisions, Harrogate went offside from a Luctonians drive and Louis Silver’s penalty gave the visitors a 0-3 lead. Minutes later, a Harrogate midfield fumble let Geraint Langdon seize on loose ball to drive over to score and make it 0-8. Harrogate looked the better side at this stage but a succession of midfield mistakes prevented them from making this count until Lewis Minikin seized on a well weighted Callum Irvine chip to score and convert his own try.

More Harrogate attacks followed but they again lost possession and Luctonians counter attacked from deep. The ball was spread to England 7s winger, Josh Watkins whose pace outstripped the defence and his try made it 7-13. Luctonians then hung on to defend desperately against Harrogate forward drives and Willem Enslin was tackled into touch just short of the line. A mini fracas then resulted in Enslin being sin binned just before the half time break.

Harrogate came out of the starting blocks at the restart to take the game to the opposition. Danny Matthews made a half break and Luke Edwards gathered his astute chip kick at pace to put Harrogate 14-13 ahead with a fine converted try. The next score was a Harrogate penalty from a Luctonians offside offence but Luctonians continued to attack and a seemingly certain try was “butchered” by a final forward pass. Throughout the game, Harrogate’s superior scrummaging gave them a consistent edge with Charley Purkiss-McEndoo totally dominant in his last game for the Club. However, the next Luctonians’ score came from a missed blatant scrum feed and Jordan Street took full advantage of the situation. This made it 17-18 and it soon became 17-21 when Harrogate were penalised for an offside offence.

2nd Row, John Kelly then scored from sustained Luctonians pressure to make it 17-25. In the final moments, Irvine was lucky to escape serious injury after a blatant midair tackle. The tackle was penalised but, surprisingly, no further action was taken against the offender. From the subsequent line-out, Jake Brady drove strongly and Enslin crashed over for the final converted try.

Harrogate: L Minikin, Edwards, N Minikin, Nesbitt, Barnard, Irvine, Matthews, Purkiss-McEndoo, Ward, J Brady, Boyde, J Coser, G Coser, Enslin. Subs:- Cutino, Reaveley, T White, S Brady, Aspin

Luctonians: Morris, Norris, Langdon, Smith, Watkins, James, Silver, Marfell, Jones, J White, Cheasley, Monkley, Hackley, Smith. Subs:- Page, Mueller, Street, Cheshire, Burton

Referee: Neil Chivers (RFU)

Match report by Bill Barrack
Photos by David Aspinall, Richard Bown and Keith Hunt