Harrogate vs Wetherby

Harrogate started much the brighter side, with Freddie Wright scoring in the first minute with a fine solo effort after some textbook set-up play by the forwards.

There followed some good passages of play by the Harrogate side, including improved tackling by both forwards and backs, and strong yards made by centre Hugo Tasker.

After some squad changes Harrogate again set the pace. Firstly the forwards won a scrum against the head, allowing their scrum half, George Hampson, to go on a foraging run before cleverly off-loading to Angus Reid to score.

Next Hampson was again in the thick of the action when he slipped an underarm pass inside to winger Ed Scullion to sprint home.

Finally to complete a quick hat-trick of tries fly-half Andrew Normand skipped around two tackles to score from five yards out, despite the encouragement of the coach to ‘pass the ball’!

The team then entered a phase of good passing involving all team members, but this did not yield the tries it deserved.

In the second period, Wetherby upped their game putting pressure on Harrogate- this resulted in some scrappy and disjointed play with missed passes and dropped balls.

After some pressure on the Harrogate line, the home team broke out to allow Robert Wilmore to get on the score sheet, but Wetherby put in a quick try as a response following a quickly taken penalty for Harrogate straying offside and Harrogate being unable to clear their lines.

Wetherby continued to gain more possession in this second period and looked the hungrier of the teams until the final whistle- this ultimately resulted in them scoring again after a good run by one of their centres.

Final score : Harrogate 5 Wetherby 2