They certainly did it the hard way, having been drawn against the holders Sandal, in the first round back in October. They battled through more tough games against the likes of Ilkley, Otley & West Park to make it through to the final against a very strong York side.

The morning of the final dawned bright but with a very gusty wind, making kicking very difficult in what turned out to be a very tense and close contest.

Harrogate, who were by many neutrals deemed to be the underdogs in this tie, got off to an excellent start with early sustained pressure culminating in a try as Zac Berrill used his pace & power to crash over in the corner.

5-0 to Harrogate and the parents & coaches could take their first breath!

Befitting of such a good team, York came back strongly scoring a well worked, converted try under the posts, 7-5 to York who further extended their lead with a penalty, 10-5.

Whilst some on the sidelines started to fear the worst, Harrogate showed tremendous character and resilience in what was arguably their best forwards performance of the season.

Time and again they tackled, rucked & mauled with great determination & power, laying the platform for a great breakaway by Jonathan Ashman who scored with a fist-pumping flourish under the posts.

The try duly converted by George Hampson meant that Harrogate went into half time leading 12-10.

With the strong wind at their backs in the second half Harrogate were confident of further territorial gains but once again York showed their quality by creating and finishing yet another well worked try and so the pendulum swung back in their favour, 15-12.

Fortunately for Harrogate the difficult kicking conditions meant that York were unable to convert the try and a further penalty that Harrogate had conceded under concerted pressure.

Neither team were willing to take a step backwards and after some crunching tackles on both sides Harrogate managed to score another great try, Joe Smith finally getting the ball down once again personifying the belligerent determination of all the forwards.

A great individual moment for Joe who had been injured in the weeks coming up to the game and had feared that he would not be able to play.

17-15 to Harrogate and still the contest was too close to call.

York threw everything at Harrogate and last gasp tackles and forced errors managed to keep the score the same until the last seconds of the game when a moment of magic by Joe Richardson who intercepted the ball evaded a tackle and fed the ball to Jonathan Ashman to again score under the posts.

A nonchalant, dropkicked conversion by Joe himself brought the final whistle and a great victory.

Credit should go to both teams and their coaching staff for the spirit & skill on show, the final score of 24-15 was possibly not a true reflection of this closest of contests but nevertheless it was a fantastic & fitting final.

Match report by Vikki Berrill
Photos by David Aspinall