Harrogate Away

Northallerton made the relatively short journey to Harrogate Pythons this week. Having lost their first game at home the team were hoping to get some points on the board against Harrogate who had also lost their first game. Unfortunately a bout of travel sickness had hit the squad so the team was somewhat depleted. Most notably in the backs, which resulted in two front row forwards lining up in the centres.
The opening exchanges were tight with North dominating the territory and putting down a marker with some strong tackling. North won a line out on the Harrogate 5 metre line only to be turned over, 2 kicks later and Harrogate were on the Northallerton try line. A dubious yellow card for Patrick Hebblethwaite for being his feet at the ruck followed putting North down to 14 men. 'Gate took advantage of the numerical advantage and scored in the corner. A missed conversion made it 5-0 after 18 mins. About a minute after the restart 'gate stole another line out and a long reverse pass from the scrum half set up the 'gate backs to run in a try from 50 metres with a simple overlap. Again they missed the kick 10-0 after 20 mins.
4 minutes later North started to play to their strengths and the forwards came alive. Phase after phase of hard rucking put 'gate on the back foot, Norths forwards were relentless and their hard work paid off with a try for number 8 Phil Swall. Jedd Bainbridge kicked the extras to make it 10-7. Northallerton were on the front foot now and the forwards were dominating the Harrogate pack. After 34 minutes they made this count with a massive maul followed by 3 more pick and go phases before giving the ball to the backs. Jedd Bainbridge then put Patrick Joyce into a gap to score in the corner. The kick was unsuccessful but North had taken the lead for the first time. Half time came and North were up 10-12.
Half time saw the introduction of the mercurial Doug Mulholland at stand off. Some fairly loose kicking gave 'gate the opportunity to have a run with the ball in the backs. After some solid tackling from the Northallerton backs 'gate managed to score under the posts. An easy conversion made it 17-12 after 46 minutes. Once again north's forwards took matters into their own hands and won a line out 10 metres out to set up a maul. They overpowered the 'gate pack again and despite the blatant attempt to bring down the maul Jacob Sankey powered his way over the line in the corner. As Jedd went to kick the ball the wind blew it over making him miss the kick. 17-17 after an hour. Once again the red brandished his yellow card this time to Doug Mulholland for hands in the ruck. Harrogate took advantage again as their hipster winger touched down in the corner despite his foot being in touch. The ref awarded the try and the gate kicker promptly missed his kick to make it 22-17. Norths forwards again got the chance to have a go at their opposite pack. This time they totally out muscled the gate pack and forced the ref to give a penalty try as the gate pack collapsed. Jedd converted to make it 22-24. Up front the pack were making their presence felt with some hard tackling and graft at the breakdown, however Northallerton 's lack of backs showed as the gate winger scored out wide again after 70 minutes and completed his hat trick on the last play of the game to make the final score 32-24.
Next week Northallerton host Wetherby in a repeat of last seasons Yorkshire Silver Trophy final.