An unprecedented injury list forced Harrogate to field inexperienced players all of whom showed great promise which augurs well for the future. Having played against the wind in the first half, a 7-0 half time lead looked promising but they’d lost playmaker Sam Fox to a groin injury and the Tigers’ greater experience led to increasing dominance after the interval

Cohesive forward play gave the Harrogate backs a plentiful supply of good ball in the first half and Fox orchestrated the back play brilliantly till his unfortunate injury. Harrogate’s set piece play won a plentiful supply of ball and their driving mauls tested the Tigers’ defence fully. As half time approached, debutant flanker, Will Seymour crashed over from yet another well constructed maul and Fox’s touchline conversion gave Harrogate a 7-0 interval lead.

Tigers came more and more into play from the restart and 2 successive Mark Ireland penalties made it 7-6 after 48 minutes. Harrogate were coming under more pressure but their defence held out well
and their youngsters’ counters continued to keep the Tigers defence honest. Tigers took a quick penalty from a Harrogate scrum offence and substitute prop Sim Meek scored a good defensive try. The next converted try, inevitably, came from Harrogate’s record holding try scorer, Jamie Broadley. Unfortunately, he’s now the Tigers DOR so this made the score 7-20.

Harrogate continued to counter at every opportunity but lost possession from a crucial knock-on and Tigers mounted a counter attack from which Robert Davidson scored the game’s final converted try

Star Man Jamie Broadley (Tigers)

Referee Nathan Howarth

Attendance 200

HT 7-0 FT 7-27

Harrogate
Try Seymour (36)
Conversions Fox (37)
Drop Goals
Penalties

Sheffield Tigers
Tries Meek (61), Broadley (68). Davidson (74)
Conversions Ireland (62, 69, 75)
Drop Goals
Penalties Ireland (42, 48)

Yellow Cards
Harrogate
Sheffield Tigers Floyd (29)

Red Cards
Harrogate
Opposition

Half Time 7-0

Referee Nathan Howarth