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
Yesterday was the War of the Roses once more as the York Men’s first fencing team met arch rivals Lancaster in their 6th match of the season. Having already fenced the Lancaster team in their first match of the season, which they unfortunately lost as it was away, this was a key match for the York team who are now ranked 2nd in their league, with Keele taking the top spot.
The first weapon up this week was Epee and York got off to a promising start, taking the first 5 points courtesy of Harry Whitwell, who only conceded 2 to Lancaster. For the next fights York remained in control until in the 6th fight of the epee, team captain, Tom Skingle had a tough fight and Lancaster’s anchor Amlot closed the gap to just four points. In the next fight, which timed out after 3 minutes, this was further reduced to the dismay of epeeist Steve Bainbridge to just 2 points. Skingle managed to prevent Lancaster ever taking the lead but Whitwell was under some pressure when in the last fight against Amlot Lancaster needed just 7 points to take the weapon as opposed to 5 for York. Whitwell did however save the day for the white rose and York took the epee with a score of 45-40.
The next weapon was Sabre and York got off to a flying start, with Tom Jones, Adrian Speakman and Harry Whitwell all fencing particularly well, to only concede 5 points while gaining 15 for York. Both teams were in good spirits and some particularly aggressive fencing from York’s Tom Jones and Harry Whitwell put the team firmly in control. However, once again the anchor for Lancaster proved to be a tough match for Whitwell, who conceded 9 points, but he made up for it when next on the piste winning 5-0. Tom Jones finished off the sabre with true class giving York a total of 45-25 in sabre and an overall score of 90-65.
With just foil left York needed only 20 points to win the match. Whitwell got York off to a flying start with Nathan Gibson also fencing well. It appeared to not be Tom Skingle’s day as the next fight timed out with Lancaster for the first time in the match, taking the lead in a fight that ended 9-3 giving a total score of 13-14 to York. Some star fencing from Gibson put York back in the lead and gave them the crucial winning point. Whitwell then went on to take another 5 without losing any. Unfortunately for Skingle Lancaster’s anchor again caused problems but York were now in the lead and had won the match overall. In the penultimate fight Skingle made the decision to substitute Phil Sellars on for himself, though he also struggled, losing his fight 7-5. In true white rose style Whitwell finished off the foil to give York a final score of 45-33.
This left the final score as 135-98 to the white rose of York. Special mention should go to the York team who really pulled together to defeat Lancaster making up for the unfortunate loss at the start of the season and last year’s defeat at Roses. Some particularly high quality fencing from Whitwell in the Epee, Gibson in the foil and Jones and Speakman in the sabre meant that York are now at a place in the league where with another couple of wins, namely against Keele, would put them top of the league and vying for promotion at the end of the season.
whoo go york !
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