Harrogate conceded 2 soft early tries putting themselves on the back foot for the rest of the game but played well in patches. Two late 1st half yellow cards left them down to 13 men at the start of the 2nd half but their spirited performance actually dominated this period.

Caldy’s first try, after 14 minute, came from them pushing Harrogate off their own scrum and No8, Josh Dickson drove over to score. A period of Harrogate attacking play followed and, when Caldy went offside, David Doherty’s penalty made it 3-7. Minutes later, a Caldy midfield turnover was recycled to Dickson who scored his second converted try. More Caldy attacks followed which were well contained by Harrogate but Caldy won another midfield turnover and centre, Jack Lavin sprinted 40 yards to score.

In the dying moments of the half, Harrogate prop, Will Dennis was yellow carded for a technical offence and Caldy opted for a scrum from the penalty. No 8, Tim Heaton was carded from this scrum and a converted penalty try ended the half.

From the restart, Harrogate’s 13 men attacked consistently stretching the Caldy defence. A Caldy high tackle was penalised but the expected yellow card wasn’t awarded. During this period, a deliberate Caldy knock-on also went unpunished. A well constructed driving maul led to Caldy’s next try with 2nd Row, Martin Gerrard squeezing over the line. Former England 7s winger, Nick Royle scored Caldy’s final try after chipping through and outstripping the covering defence. This was converted by Gavin Roberts.

Despite being 3-38 down, Harrogate refused to capitulate. Paddy Hebblethwaite had replace Phil Wickham at scrum half and made an immediate impact. However an injury to stand-off, Sam Fox led to him being replaced by Wickham where he showed some neat touches. A searing Luke Edwards break took was halted just short of the Caldy and good support transferred the ball to Wickham whose try was converted by Doherty.

Harrogate: Doherty, Barnard, Naylor, Dixon, Edwards, Fox, Wickham, Purkiss-McEndoo, Larder, Dennis, J Brady,
S Brady, J Coser, Starkey, Heaton. Subs:- Yorke, Ward, Harvey, G Coser, Hebblethwaite.

Caldy: Roberts, Royle, Edwards, Lavin, Banks, Hayes, Broxson, Concu, Stagg, Derek Salisbury, Gerrard, Sanders, Crowe, Collister, Dickson. Subs:- Rushton, Danny Salisbury, Weir, Harris, Jones

Referee: Llyr Ap Geraint Roberts

Match report by Bill Barrack