The second and last of York’s warm up games before Roses saw them travel south to take on Bradford Salem. A warm day promised perfect conditions for running rugby, which would certainly play to York’s strengths against a predominantly older and slower Bradford Salem side. The late arrival of a, special guest, complete with wifebeater, bolstered the York pack and allowed Rupert Grant to start on the bench, so not risk his calf injury. The absence of a referee meant that one of the Bradford Salem players had to take his place, not ideal but York were ready to deal with the adversity.

The game started with Bradford kicking to York. Tom Weir pounced on a dropped ball and a strong backline move advanced York 40m up the pitch, despite a late hit on William Felgate, laying down their intentions for the rest of the match. York continually looked to run the ball and play positive rugby and after about ten minutes this resulted in Sam Morrison streaking down the wing to score under the posts, Robert Grant duly added the conversion. The rugby was all with York and only a lack of accuracy with some of their passing meant they didn’t add more points straight after. However they did not have to wait too long as good pressure from the York forwards resulted in Ash Alexander burying his way over, again Grant with the conversion. Great work at the breakdown by Alistair Handy and Alex Redshaw saw York gaining the majority of the possession giving the likes of Michael James and Felgate a platform to perform. A sliced clearance by Bradford and a wayward lineout throw meant Morrison collected the ball to power over for his second score under the posts, Grant added the extras.

York continued to test the Bradford defence making a number of breaks, a flowing move involving T. Bugge and M. James saw Rich Bremner put through into space (whilst performing his trademark move) which he then exploited to run away untouched to score York’s fourth try, Grant once again scored the conversion. A fine first half performance from York was finished off by Michael James as he broke through the Bradford defence with a well chosen back-line move to score just before the break. However the try was largely overshadowed by the punch suffered by Robert Grant as he jogged over to take his place kick, leaving M. James to put the 2 points up on the board. York refused to lower themselves to the level of their opposition and headed into the interval with their discipline intact.

Half time changes saw Rory Mcgregor on for Ash Alexander, Ollie Tilney on for William Felgate, Alistair Handy off for Rupert Grant and Ed Drewett on for Rob Grant. York started the second half as they had left the off from the first, dominating Bradford at the scrum and breakdown with only a lack of penetration hindered them from immediately adding to their tally. A flowing move involving ‘the Special Guest’, Ollie Tilney and Weir resulted in Rupert having a five metre run into the line, Tim Walker, taking over from Grant, then kicked the conversion. A tired Bradford Salem side were now visibly suffering in the set piece particularly at the scrum where the appearance of Rupert coupled with Stone and Chris Milligan was causing Bradford all sorts of trouble. Morrison had to give way to Ash Alexander after suffering a shoulder injury, before some great work by the York backs gave Gabriel Adebiyi the opportunity to turn on the speed and head straight under the posts, Walker again adding the extra two points.

The match threatened to boil over at several points but the York discipline held fast and they did not allow themselves to succumb to the Bradford way of playing. After a failed kick for touch by the Salem kicker, the ball found its way to the hands of Bugge, who used his speed, pace and maybe his height to find the many gaps between the Bradford side to go over under the posts, he then drop goaled the conversion to make the score 56-0. The final points were added when good strength by M. James and G. Adebiyi in defense, enabled G. Adebiyi to rip the ball off the opposition flanker and find himself in enough space to run unopposed from 30m out, he also added the conversion.

After a failed attempt at the posts by the Salem fly-half, the match was ended ten minutes from time. York had proven themselves against a much weaker opposition, showing their discipline, cutting edge and class. It means they head into their Roses game on Sunday with a 100% record in the warm up games. Bring on Lancaster.

UYRUFC 1st XV 63 – 0 Bradford Salem 2s


Team vs Bradford Salem

1. James Stone
2. Chris Reid Milligan
3. Special Guest
4. Alexander Redshaw (cpt)
5. Alistar Handy
6. Ash Alexander
7. Sam Morrison
8. Tom Weir
9. Tim Walker
10. Robert Grant
11. Gab Adebiyi
12. William Felgate
13. Michael James
14. Richard Bremner
15. Thomas Bugge

16. Rupert Grant
17. Rory McGregor
18. Ed Drewett
19. Oliver Tilney

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The Roses campaign got off to a winning start as a fast and skilful University side took on a strong and physical local York team. A mixed team made up of both first and second team players saw Matthew Pollen starting at fly-half and he took his chance well making a series of exquisite breaks before finishing outright for the Universities first try, a missed conversion making it 5-0. The university continued in strong form and did not allow a much bigger York side to bully them. After further attacking prowess a fine break allowed Tom Weir to go over between the posts, a late shoulder charge on TW by their 10 only resulted in injurying his own player as Weir squashed him against the posts. The conversion by Tom Bugge made the score 12-0 to York, a great start by a side that hadn’t played for over a month.


Strong interplay by the University continued to put pressure on the York defence and some well executed lines by Will Felgate and Bugge put York in a strong position inside the opposition 22. Tim Walker saw the gap and took it then passing back into the centre for Michael James to score underneath the posts, the conversion somehow missed. Speaking with the kicker after the match he said “I struck the ball correctly, just in the wrong direction…”


Despite strong play by the University forwards with some huge tackles by Alistar Handy and Will Tate, York were allowed back into the match when they went over from close range making the score 17-5. The university were beginning to let their guard down and despite still having a faster and more skilful backline they were unable to give quality ball to the wingers Richard Bremner and Gabriel Adebiyi. A cameo performance from Sam Carr-Archer, on for the hard-working Will Forsythe, was not enough to stop the power of the York forwards. Their superiority in size was allowing them to continually get over the gain line and some weak tackling from the University meant they found themselves conceding another try. The University hit back though when a period of great play saw Arkan go over for a try just before the break making the score 22-10 at half time.


The second half saw the University side make a number of changes with Bugge and Walker off, Sam Morrison on for Tate, Zervakis on for Brian Blessed and Forsythe back on for Redshaw. The second half started brightly for the university as they established some great field position with a host of kicks to the corner, unfortunately lack of accuracy in the lineout meant they found these efforts of territory fruitless. Some great tackling by MJ gave the University a lifeline after excellent play by York, but ill discipline meant the University were unable to sustain any intensity. The University team were being bullied in the scrums and this York superiority was being established in all areas of play as a York backline, seemingly hiding their pace in the first half, went over for a try to make the score 22-15 to the university following a missed conversion. The pace and interplay of York was causing all sorts of trouble for the University and despite strong cover tackling by Guy Holder-Williams and Morrison they were unable to stop York going over for another try, the score now just 22-20 to York. Another York RC score made it 22-27 to the home team and some strong words were exchanged underneath the posts as the University looked to re-establish themselves as the dominant team.


The return of Alexander Redshaw sparked some impetus and urgency into the Universities play as they won a lineout on Yorks 5m line. Redshaw himself then powered over to score. A superb conversion by Tom Morris from the touch line saw the University back into the lead at 29-27. Great effort and endeavour by the entire team saw them mix tenacity in defence with some classy breaks in attack, both Bugge and Ed Drewett putting the York defence under strain. A scrum, the Achilles heel of the university all day, saw UYRUFC with the opportunity to put the ball out and win the game but the ambition of the University saw them opt to the run before a turnover allowed York one last chance of victory. However great defence by the university meant they were able to withstand a last minute push by York. Ultimately a penalty won by the Ash Alexander (a.k.a. “The Dark Lord”) saw UYRUFC able to kick the ball out and hang on for victory. It was an impressive performance by a University side who had not played for six weeks and it put a marker down on a Roses match less than two weeks away. Great win for UYRUFC

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York just needed the draw today to win the league outright, however with Varcity fever nobody was expecting anything other than an outright win. With that in mind the first ten minutes were terrible, York were not switched on and allowed a bigger team’s physicality bully them off the ball. Indeed York were in disarray finding themselves 7-0 down and un-sure what had really happened. An embarrassed team were given stern words by Captain Tate after ill discipline cost them another three points. Firing York back-up was only half hearted however, and despite spending the next five minutes in the St John’s 22, the clinical precision of York’s attacking lines was totally off-colour and the stalwart second team were panicking for the first time all season. It was only thanks to an excellent off-load by Woody and Morty’s superb boot that York were able to add any points to the board. York’s troubles were far from over however as a frustrated Captain spear-tackled the St John’s no.12 and received a sin-binning. Indeed with only 14 men York were soon back in their 22 and again were looking shaky without the calming influence of Will Tate. It was only thanks to some poor hands with their no.8 knocking it on that a try wasn’t conceded here. St John’s did leave with some points however as York were un-able to clear their lines and eventually conceded a penalty for handling on the floor.

It was now, finally finding themselves 10 points down for the second time in the match that York remembered how to play rugby. With a certain sense of desperation York were slowly pulling themselves back into the game, the forwards were winning the backs some clean ball and it wasn’t long before RJ was able to celebrate St.Paddy’s day with a 30 metre break down the right wing. Rishi started to resemble himself and was starting to make his usual thudding runs from eight and smashed their wing securing York good ball. The half ended though with another dampener for York though as Phil Johnson was forced to leave the field due to a recurring ankle injury. Still Sam Carr-Archer is a more than a worthy replacement and was soon proving himself to be a real menace for the St John’s line-out.

With Tate now back on the field, optimism had returned to the side-lines and York’s some fifty supporters were doing their best to inflate the 2nds. Unfortunately the half time break had the opposite effect and York’s defence was crumbling in the openign encounters of the second half. York were even losing line-out  ball (an extreme rarity) after Garmy valiantly, but stupidly declined to leave the field despite suffering a bad shoulder injury. The change came just after York St.John scored again and the conversion lead to an uncomfortable score-line of 20-3. The Dark Lord had one of his best games from the bench in a UYRUFC jersey and was making a big impression on the game. Tilney also came on around the sixty minute mark for Bummer who had struggled to find his usual form all game, and CRM was brought on to try and shore-up what was now a misfiring York scrum. The impact of these changes were positive and the remaining twenty minutes of rugby was the first time the York team actually started playing all match. In what was a slightly odd but in the end well deserved try, Woody charged down a catch and then looking slightly dazed fell on the ball to be awarded the try right in the corner. Morty’s kick bounced back off the posts leaving York still 11 points adrift. York were now proving they could beat St John when playing the unique style of bumble-bee fast moving rugby and not the more monotonous crash ball St John’s style of the game. In credit to St John’s however their defensive lines were still proving fairly impregnable and York were failing to turn pressure into points. The best chance of a try came when Woody failed to spot a three (four including him) on two overlap on the blind-side from about 10 metres out.

York again conceded a penalty in a good game position and the St.John’s ten was able to place them almost out of reach at 23-8 up. The next few minutes were agonising as the ball remained in the middle of the park and York failed to add any points and the clock was fast running out of time. Rishi broke this spell with a fantastic pick and go, and the scrambling St John’s defence couldn’t handle the superb hands of the York backline: RJ scored in the corner bringing it to 13-20. Morty narrowly missed the kick. St john’s continual high tackling and off-side infringements were going un-noticed by the referee and seriously prohibiting York’s chances of levelling the score (double standards were being called from the side line after another late and high tackle on Matt Pollen went unnoticed by the referee). York could well have won the game had they been playing just 14 men in the final spell. York were still stepping up the pressure though and winning a penalty on the 22 gave them a good attacking platform 10 metres out. On an ill-fated day the throw was judged not-straight and York left again with no points. There was a final flourish as York hoped to regain some dignity and turning the St John’s scrum it looked as though York might again score but as was the tone of the day, another promising York attack failed to materialise into any points.

St Paddy’s day was a disappointing end to the BUCS season for UYRUFC. Both the 1st team and the 2nd team were judged to have come second in their leagues, despite being tied on overall points and having significantly better points differences than the team judged to have won the league. The 2nds (with far better cause than the 1sts who were only denied promotion on a technicality meaning 3 of their overall points didn’t count) therefore finish the season second in league 3B having played 14, won 11, and lost 3. Their overall points difference is +247.

York 2nd XV:

1.Welsh, 2.Garmston, 3.Shepherd, 4.Forsythe, 5.Johnson, 6.Tate (C), 7.Morrison, 8.Rishi, 9.Wood, 10.Mortimer, 11.Bremner, 12.Pollen, 13.Terrager, 14.Johnston, 15.Morris, 16.Reid-Milligan, 17.Holder-Williams, 18.Carr-Archer, 19.Tilney, 20.Reed, 21. Alexander.

Tries: Woody and Johnston

Drop-goal: Mortimer

Man of the match: Will Forsythe

Man of the Season: Will Tate (C)

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Following York’s 94 points to 5 victory over Sunderland on their last encounter, York have been offered (and accepted) the walkover. These crucial three points have now brought York IUniveristy 2^nd XV to the top of the league. York now only need to get a draw in their final encounter to be promoted into Northern Conference League 2B. However the Yorkies will be looking for nothing other than the win in the local derby against York St.John’s 1^st XV. If York were to lose the game they would find themselves tied on points with York St John’s 1^st XV and Sheffield Hallam 2^nd XV, so the win is crucial. The intensity at York RI (where the game is being played) come Wednesday will be at Roses level, especially considering York are still looking for vengeance after York St.John inflicted one of the Uni’s 2^nd teams only two loses beating the under-strength York side 32 points to 5. So I therefore implore you to come and watch and support the bumble-bees in their final push for promotion. 2.00 p.m kick-off at York RI (Y024 4NT – http://www.yorkrirugby.moonfruit.com/#/locationcontacts/4534347624 ).

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