York RUFC return to winning ways at Old Rishworthians

York Rugby Union Club made a return to winning ways in the Yorkshire League Division One after edging out a committed Old Rishworthians side 15-16 on Sunday (Jan 28th)

York made heavy weather of beating the Halifax outfit, but the table-toppers tasted victory again after losing their 100% record against Middlesbrough last week.

Their task was made particularly awkward after commiting a string of basic errors and being on the wrong side of of the referee’s decisions for most of the match.

York were missing star players Jon Dawes and Liam Hessay before the match, so starts were given for the dependable centre Sam Potrykus and fly-half Nick Speck.

Raining penalties

With the penalty count finishing at 17 to 5 in favour of Rishworthians, this was a match that York had to grind out, helped by a bit of lady luck.

The home side took a deserved early lead with two penalties from Josh Kelly, as York struggled to put their game together.

Kelly stretched the lead to nine points with a third penalty kick, before a spell of York pressure won a penalty for themselves on the half-an-hour mark. Full-back George Davies duly converted.

However, Kelly replied again with yet another penalty and a poor first half ended without either side coming close to a try.

York made a strong start to the second half though, and were rewarded with the first try of the game.

Grinding it out

A long kick found touch near the corner post, and from the resulting line-out, Lewi Jackson scored with a typical burst over the line. George Davies expertly converted to reduce the lead to two points at 12-10.

Kelly brought the points gap up to five with his fifth penalty conversion of the game moments later. However, York replied immediately after with a penalty of their own and George Davies kicked over once more.

The deciding points came for York on 65 minutes, when another penalty was awarded and Davies kicked over for a fourth time to put York in the lead.

It was backs against the wall for York after that, and they would have thrown their lead away in the final ten minutes if Kelly hadn’t have failed with two penalty kicks.

But the Clifton Parkers held out for victory, and York won the match 15-16 to maintain their 11-point lead at the top of the Yorkshire League Division One.