Harrogate vs Rugby Lions

A comfortable victory seemed certain but Rugby had other ideas. They dominated the 2nd half possession and scored 2 excellent tries to create a nail biting finish.

Harrogate went offside very early in the match to give Rugby full back Lloyd Warner a straightforward penalty. However, they then turned a Rugby defensive scrum to win the put-in at the restart. Dickie Davies’s clever miss-pass put Steve Parsons into space for a fine try converted by Mike Aspinall.

A period of prolonged Harrogate pressure followed leading to some desperate Rugby defence. This led to a Yellow Card for Rugby No8 Chris Humphrey and another one for Captain Alex Nash quickly followed.

Harrogate’s pressure continued with strong midfield breaks from Kyle Dench and Sam Bottomley. Davies eventually dummied his way through the defence to score and give Aspinall another easy conversion. Bottomley then cut through the midfield to touch down for the final score of the half. Just before the break, Joss Andrews received Rugby’s 3rd Yellow Card for a foul tackle on Dickie Davies.

Rugby tightened up their game after the interval and denied Harrogate possession for long periods. Harrogate went offside to give Warner another 3 point penalty but this was followed by a classical Harrogate three-quarter movement. Chris Harris completed the move by scoring in the corner and Harrogate were seemingly out of sight.

Rugby then pounced on some uncontrolled Harrogate line-out ball. Centre Matt Goode made a powerful midfield break and Andrews atoned for his previous sin binning with a fine try. Rugby continued to use their possession well and another back movement ended with a converted try from winger Tom Harris.

The visitors’ control of the game continued and the Harrogate supporters were seriously worried when another Warner penalty brought the score to 24-21 with 14 minutes of normal time left. However, on the stroke of normal time, Aspinall kept his nerve to land a 30 yard penalty for the game’s final score.

Harrogate were worthy winners but the Rugby rearguard action earned them a well deserved bonus point. Home flanker, Neil Spence, worked tirelessly throughout the game and his ball winning skills on the ground were a big feature. This earned him the Man of the Match award.

Harrogate
Smithies, C Harris, Bottomley (Brimacombe 61), Dench, Parsons, R Davies, Aspinall, Browne, Yorke (Hannon 58), S Davies, Johnson, Lewis, Beck (Wilson 48), Spence, Peacey

Rugby Lions
Warner, Marston, Goode, Reed, T Harris, Andrews, Handley, Hopkins, Spokes, Warrilow (Burchnall 52), Braband, Weaver (Bradshaw 76), Campion, Nash, Humphrey.

Referee
Nick Ashton (RFU)

Man of the Match - Neil Spence