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
University of York Centurions 18-46 Huddersfield University Hawks
York Centurions’ hopes of a home win in the league this season were shattered by the visitors from Huddersfield. In contrast to most of the previous games, it was York’s defence that did not realise its potential on a day when the offence was moving the ball as well as it has done all year. Although the score line suggests otherwise, the Centurions were in contention for much of the match.
The afternoon started pretty badly for the home side, when a mix up on special teams allowed Huddersfield to return a punt for a touchdown after the York offence had stalled to a 3 and out on the first series. The first quarter deteriorated further for the Centurions when the visitors took advantage of a short field to make it two touchdowns to none after just two drives. The York defence was very short of numbers on the day, but some inspirational performances from the likes of reserve defensive end Lloyd Gunton (10 tackles) made the Hawks fight for their yards.
Just as York heads began to go down in the afternoon sun, the running game kick started the Centurion’s offence. Some quality blocking throughout the day afforded the home side gains through full back Nick Walter up the middle. Huddersfield reacted to this tactic and put speed and size in at defensive line, and York had most success running behind the right side of Mikey Porter, Sam Asfahani and Tim Blades. Tom Lee made use of their shunt to score from some distance on an end around to get the Centurions on the board. Quarterback Josh Holt looked as composed as he had all season, and racked up some serious yards through the air and on the ground. Multiple receivers were utilised throughout the day, with Chris Paroussis and Zef Rucinski showing their speed and hands out wide.
It was on a deep ball to Tom Lee that the home side almost squared the game, had a Huddersfield player not intervened illegally. But York were denied an opportunity from the goal line by a questionable call from the officials. The visitors again had the rub of the green in the second half when York’s Felipe Mota recovered a fumble, only for the officials to return the ball to Huddersfield. This resulted in a touchdown that took the game away from the Centurions, despite scores from Nick Walter and a second from Tom Lee. Late in the game the Hawks ran the score up against a tiring defence, which detracted from the hard hitting efforts of Grant Ninnes and Steve Braid at linebacker. Tom Hamilton also racked up another interception. All in all the game can be summed up by the words of rookie Tom Marks, “That’s unfortunate.”
Although holding a 0-7 record, the last three games were all very winnable at some stage or another. The Centurions visit Leeds this week with every chance of pulling off the spectacular...possibly.
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