Today was the final of the Yorkshire U17/18 Plate, hosted at Moortown RUFC v Doncaster. A couple of late injures meant that we only had a squad of 17, but those we had were definitely up for it.

The match started in the gloroius sunshine with a strong period of Harrogate possesion and pressure, eventually leading to a narrowly missed penalty kick for us, followed by the first of several handling errors that Doncaster snapped up and ran in for a converted try. Harrogate hit back a few minutes later with a penalty from a strong scrum, kicked by Charlie Hudson. Doncaster scored another breakaway try after 20 minutes to take the score to 14-3. At this point, things weren't looking good for Harrogate, but it turned out that was the last time that Doncaster scored.

As well as the usual scrum dominance, it was great to see a solid line out display. A penalty late in the first half was kicked to touch and the line out was well controlled to give a try for Ollie Henry from the resulting driving maul. At half time the score was 14-8 to Doncaster.

10 minutes after the break, it was a repeat at the other end with a line out and maul resulting in a try for Noah Elberg. The conversion was missed, taking Harrogate to within a point. There were still 20 minutes of the game left and it was back and forth with the supporters from both sides getting increasingly tense.

The final score of the match came minutes from the end when Tom Sharp ripped the ball from Doncaster in the ruck and quickly flipped it to the backs, who passed down the line for Charlie Hudson to go over on the far side of the pitch. Charlie followed up with the conversion, making the final score 14-20 to Harrogate.

This was the last game of the season for the Colts and marks the end of a very succesful year. Played 14, Won 12, Lost 2, with 450 points scored and 217 conceded overall. The final league standings are still to be confirmed, but the signs are that we have won the division. This is all the more impressive considering that we have rarely had any substitutes available and have often played with less than the full complement of 15. Only 5 months until next season...