Harrogate Vets 45 Roundhegians Vets 22

Match Report by: Shaun 'The Wall' Ledger

Harrogate welcomed old foes and friends Roundhegian's Vets to fortress Rudding Park for the first game of the season , and as usual both sides entered into the spirit of free running , champagne rugby .

Having the vast area of pitch one to grace with their vintage skills , the drama started before kick off when squad player and Badger boy Matthew Powell hurt his finger warming up before kick off , his courage was there for all to see , as he set off down to A & E before the game had even kicked off.

The game followed the usual pattern with the Roundhegian's backs using the ball skilfully along the full width of the pitch , while Harrogate were a little more direct with Jamie Bird benefitting from some good handling to crash through three defenders to score in the corner.

Roundhegian's responded with a fantastic try from 40 yards out with the winger finishing a fine move with a try in the corner , the Harrogate cover defence was, as usual shambolic , but the general consensus in the backs was ' tackling is over rated ' .
Harrogate responded with further tries before half time from Nick , Rats Riley , Jamie Bird again as well as a neat finish from Vincent Furnish , whose apparent secret to lasting fitness is something called muesli and exercise .
Roundhegians completed the scoring before half time with a move that any back line in the world would have struggled to stop , and it was a genuine pleasure to see the Roundhegians centre crash through the gifted Harrogate number 10.
Captain Jim DS Saynor had bravely volunteered to hook , unfortunately he also volunteered to throw the ball in at the line out , resulting in general carnage , but brave all the same, and Powelly would do well to follow that level of bravery. Some great runs in the forwards from Big Al , Marc Hutchinson and Steve 'Shipman' Jeffries kept Harrogate going forwards. The Harrogate pack did not move an inch in the second half , something they were rightly proud of ....until the ref told them they had been playing uncontested scrums for at least half an hour.

The second half saw Jamie Bird finish off his hat trick and also a great blind side try from half man half horse Mark Dawson which kept Harrogate comfortably in the lead . Roundhegians once again stole the show in the second half by stopping the game due to their winger again losing his false eye , the referee duly penalised him for slowing up play , which to be fair seemed a bit harsh .
Several good tackles , amazingly from Little Al and big unit Tim Milnes kept the visitors at bay , to see the Vets home.
Overall a great turn out of 21 vets and a fantastic display from Roundhegians as usual , several new players turned out on the day , and a good few beers afterwards finished the day off nicely.
The Vets next fixture is away to Perugia in Italy , unbeaten in Europe and unbeaten at Rudding , Harrogate Vets march on undefeated.

Man of the match : Jamie Bird

Match Report: Shaun 'The Wall' Ledger