Nick Wright previews this weekend's clash between York City Knights and Hull FC
Alex Reid looks at whether the once ever-present appearance of English clubs in the later stages of the Champions League is set to become a thing of the past
Craig Dobson looks at QPR's decision to sack Neil Warnock and replace him with Mark Hughes
James Tompkinson reviews an excellent pre-season victory for the York City Knights against Yorkshire rivals Leeds Rhinos
York produced their best display of the season thus far last Wednesday to turn over a Durham side who had defeated them 36-0 before Christmas.
York knew that a defeat to Durham would almost certainly end their aspirations on the league title, and hand Durham a close to unassailable lead in the bid for promotion.
With York unable to get onto the pitches for training however, they weren’t as prepared as they would like to have been. Intensive defensive training on the less than ideal Astroturf had given them hope that they could gain a defensive platform from which they could hold off a Durham attack that had run riot in the game before Christmas.
The atmosphere before kick-off was intense but focused. Durham kicked off and although York knocked on, the first scrum was won against the head, as York showed that this was going to be a bruising encounter.
For the first ten minutes, Durham had the majority of possession, but York’s defensive practice was paying dividends as a succession of solid tackles, from forwards and backs, ensured Durham had no opportunity to cross the York line.
York were clearly in an aggressive mood, but on occasions this was bubbling over into a niggly encounter. When Durham were penalised for not releasing near the York line, scrum-half Tim Walker's attempts to get the ball resulted in a hand to a Durham face. This was interpreted by the referee as a yellow-card offence and York were down to 14 men for 10 minutes.
York’s defence was holding firm, even with the depleted numbers, but York’s over-eagerness to get amongst Durham meant that penalties were being given away. With Durham realising that they were going to struggle to cross the York line, they opted to kick one of these penalties from just to the left of the post. However, York were let off as the kick was sliced and York held firm for the rest of the time Walker was absent.
For the majority of the rest of the half, defence was king as both sides failed to score, and although York broke tackles on a number of occasions, they failed to turn these half-opportunities into points.
York were eventually punished for their failure to put points on the board. Sustained Durham pressure was being repelled by York, but people took their eye off the ball as a scrap was still occurring from the last ruck, and the Durham 13 spotted a gap down the blind-side to race into the corner and score with the last play of the half, and for all York’s good work they went in 5-0 down at half-time.
After half-time, York came out knowing their promotion chances were on the line and were clearly the side who wanted it more. They finally began to take more of the possession, but were struggling to take the half-chances that they needed to. It was clear that as long as Durham did not score again, penalties would be enough to give York a chance. A first attempt at a tricky long penalty was missed, but Rob “Naboo” Grant, on his debut coped brilliantly with the pressure to score two kicks to take York into the lead with 10 minutes remaining.
Durham understandably came back at York, but mistakes by them meant York were having the majority of possession, and with only a couple of minutes to go substitute Steve Lowe had a chance to kick York further into the lead. Expansive rugby had sent Nick Brown on a long run and Durham killed the ball, but from the left hand 15 metre line the kicked was just pushed wide.
For the last couple of minutes, Durham pushed hard, but the defence and heart that had stood York in such good stead during the game held firm. This performance was epitomised by Man of the Match fresher Ben Innes, whose physical approach Durham simply failed to cope with.
News got even better for the York 1st’s with Bradford awarding York a walkover for a rearranged game on Saturday due to them being unable to field a team. UYRUFC now find both their first and second teams' top of their respective tables and with their individual promotion chances in their own hands. It could well turn out to be a very good year for UYRUFC.
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