In spite of the score, this was an evenly contested game played in poor, wet conditions. Ionians won clearly but it was actually an even contest till Ionians kicked a spate of successive penalties in the second half and score a runaway try at the very end. Though Ionians benefited from some borderline decisions, they took full advantage of every opportunity to run out clear winners.

The match opened with both sides testing each other’s defences and possession regularly changed. Harrogate’s pack dominated in tight and loose play with Sam Brady, Brandon Hannam and Declan Thompson well to the fore. A Sam Fox penalty punished an Ionians offside offence to open the scoring. Minutes later, Ionians regained possession from a Harrogate knock-on and when the home defence went offside, a Ben Smith penalty levelled the scores. A Harrogate driving maul was penalised and Ionians gained an attacking line-out from the penalty from which No8, Callam Sanderson drove over to score.

The Ionians defence held out against consistent Harrogate pressure until they went offside and Fox’s kick made it 6-8 at the interval

From the restart, Harrogate’s pack dominated the tight exchanges and were eventually rewarded with a Jacob Percival try from a driving maul to put them 13-8 ahead. More forward drives followed from which the ball was spun left but Luke Edwards was narrowly forced into touch. A Harrogate drive from a scrum was mysteriously penalised and Joe Makin’s try made it 13-13 from the subsequent line-out.

Harrogate’s pack were now consistently failing to satisfy the referee’s law interpretations and conceded 3 quick successive penalties and 9 more points from Smith. An Ionians attack followed from what seemed to be a squint line-out throw and Joe Makin scored a converted try. This made it 13-29 but Harrogate’s attacking attempts continued. However, they were turned over and Ionians kicked through for centre, Josh Britton to win the race for the line and score the final converted try.

Harrogate
Parry, Barnard, Cummins, Fox, L Edwards, Yates, Keith,Baxter, Maycock, Percival, Hannam, Brady, Dodds, Lansdall, Thompson. Subs:- Yorke, Dennis, Kitching, Whyte, Wickham

Hull Ionians
Burnhill, W Edwards, Britton, Townend, Evison, Smith, Bird, Laverick, Stephenson, Bell, Makin, Campbell, Mewburn, J Sanderson, C Sanderson. Subs:- Morton, Peters, Hudson, Offie, Thundercliffe.

Referee
Ben Davis (RFU)

Harrogate

Tries Conversions Penalties
Percival 39 Fox 40 Fox 11 & 41

Hull Ionians

Tries Conversions Penalties
C Sanderson 24 Smith 27 & 81 Smith 12, 63,67,70
Makin 80

Star Man James Sanderson (Hull Ionians)

Attendance 350

Half Time Score 6-8