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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York were fired up fearing Hallam would send down a much strengthened 3^rd XV. After a strong start it wasn’t long before Morty was able to show his class and put Felgate through for a try. After the first 5 minutes York lead 7-0. York applied pressure on Hallam for the entire first quarter and proved totally dominant all over the field. Following some great hands by Garmston who off-loaded in the tackle Felgate went through for his second try in less than 10 minutes. Again Morty added the necessary points. York were by now proving totally dominant and a few minutes later Tom Bummer Morris was able to score running a great line off the back of a very dominant York scrum. Hallam now lifted their game and after a penalty gave them good positioning in our 22 Hallam were able to score in the corner. Around the twenty minute mark though York hit back with an excellent training ground move which saw Ryan Johnston score and Morty add the respective points. However that was RJ’s only moment of glory in a day where he dropped more catches than the FM drinks pints on a Wednesday. RJ secured himself dick of the day triumphantly by sabotaging York’s efforts of really building an emphatic win in a fashion not seen since Spanky got injured.

It was now that Johnson got subbed on despite carrying numerous injuries from Monday night’s game because the sneakiest and quickest of men in York had to leave the field due to a blister. York still had a total strangle-hold on the game and after a well executed line-out York got the push on and the excellently marshalled drive by Redshaw saw the Yorkies force their way over the line with CRM touching down. It wasn’t long before York were back with a good position and managed to dominate the Hallam scrum and winning the penalty Wissen went for the line side-stepping the first defender, handing off the second, pirouetting around the third and finally dropping his shoulder and carrying the final defender the final ten metres of his excellent dash from the half-way line to score (or at least that is how he was heard explain his try to a pretty girl later that night in the ziggy’s champagne lounge). Regardless Wissen’s crash over the line from 5 metres out saw him add his name to the team sheet and mark the first day in UYRUFC history that both props scored in the same outing. York concluded the first half convincingly 47-5 ahead.

A tired second team still not fully recovered from Monday night’s very physical game against Sheffield Hallam 2^nd XV grew a little weary in the second half and the scoring rate dropped. Following some early pressure from Hallam York were soon deep in their territory and another catch and drive from Hallam saw Johnson break away from the maul with Tate and get the off-load in the tackle to Woody who went over the line to score. 45 minutes of rugby played and York’s lead was 54-5. York were soon bustling the Hallam lines again and T-bag showing his outrageous gas scored again to bring York to 59 points. Redshaw having had a good game picked up a bad knock and had to be substituted for Rich Welsh seeing George Wissen move into the 2^nd row. Tilney also came on to replace Bummer due to injury. York were still proving dominant and a bit of an overzealous pursuit of a hat-trick saw Felgate ignore the overlap and lose the ball in a turn-over. York backs were towards the end of the game proving to be a little selfish in their hunt for tries, and the forwards soon got in on the act with Rishi unfortunately knocking it on after a good run with around 10 minutes left. The game ended with Pete Terraga scoring again to find his way to a hat-trick and Morty having kicked 8 out of 10 conversions concluded the game 66-5.

York 2nd XV:

1.Reid-Milligan, 2.Garmston, 3.Wissen, 4.Redshaw, 5.Quick, 6.Crosse, 7. Holder-Williams, 8.Tate, 9.Wood, 10.Mortimer, 11.Johnston, 12.Pollen, 13.Felgate, 14. Terrager, 15.Morris, 16.Johnson, 17.Rishi, 18.Welsh, 19.Gabriel, 20.Tilney

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This night game, under the Huddersfield 1^st XV flood-light pitch was pipped by most as the league decider. UYRUFC had never seen their second team so focused or fired up and the warm up was executed with real purpose and precision. The Hallam boys made the mistake of making the Yorkies wait around five minutes before they emerged from their changing rooms, and the opening minutes set the tempo for the entire game. From the kick off (Morty once again delivered his textbook high and lofty restarts) Captain Tate was there to put in a huge opening hit and win York the turn-over. York proved totally dominant in this opening spell and it wasn’t long before Bremner was given a little space on the wing, and following a vintage Brem side-step he was able to just get the ball down in the corner. Mortimer added the two points in all too familiar a fashion.

York continued to apply pressure but ill discipline now crept into the Yorkie game and successive penalties relieved Hallam defence. The penalty count continued to mount and Morrisson was sin-binned on the fifteen minute mark for repeated handling infringements in the ruck. York down to 14 men now had the pressure applied on them. The York defence held tight though and Morty was able to get the boys out of hot water with a sublime tactical kicking display. Still playing with a man down, York were showing their class in the scrum and won a penalty against Hallam, Wood took a quick one and Pollen finished it off with a hand off to score under the posts. Morrison returned to the field with York 14-0 up and York were soon exerting serious pressure on the Hallam lines. Wood took a quick penalty again and went it alone being brought down but not held and burrowed his way past another Hallam defender to score under the posts. Unfortunately in a bizarre decision the referee declared double movement and Wood and York were denied. The half ended with York pressuring the Hallam 22 but again ill discipline saw the Bumble-bees leave their ending spell on the Hallam 5 metre line with nothing.

The Hallam boys came out firing and play was tight for the opening 10 of the second half. The York backs showed their class again and in an unbelievable refereeing decision York were denied a try as it was deemed Matt Pollen was held up over the line. The York defence now really started to get stretched and Captain Tate who had been leading from the front with some monumental hits was unfortunately was forced off as a blood replacement having ripped the top of his right ear around the 60 minute mark. On came Crosse. Having lost the instrumental Tate, Hallam were now finally able to find a way through and break over the York line, but the referee deemed this ball held up too. Carma.

With the York scrum under serious pressure following Hallam (1^st team) replacements, Hallam made the most of their five metre scrum and crashed over the York try-line. York now brought on Blessed for Garmston to bolster the front row (about 8 stone of added weight) and some fresh legs in the backs seeing Johnston come on for Gabriel and Tilney for Morrison. With these more experienced heads brought on York were looking to close the game out. Indeed when York were awarded a penalty and Morty slotted it the lead was 17-7 with fifteen minutes remaining: York took their foot off the gas. As a result of this and the fatigue of the first sixty minutes play started to open up and Hallam won another penalty to bring the scores to 17-10.

On the end of a Hallam boot Forsythe had his eye cut open and Sam Carr-Archer was brought on as York’s final replacement. However within two minutes of joining the field, a minor infringement saw the referee lose patience and sin-bin Carr-Archer with ten minutes left. A tired York side after a very physical encounter could no longer hold Hallam out with 14 men and Hallam scored in the corner. Thankfully the Hallam kicker missed to leave York 17-10 ahead. When another scrum went down Johnson’s temperamental ankles buckled but with no further replacements he was forced to stay on or else York would be playing with 13, hobbling around he failed to make any impression in the last ten minutes. Indeed York were lucky to hold out and watching the Hallam ten line-up a final penalty hearts were filled with dread; he thankfully missed and in the final play Tate (back on from his blood sub) kicked the ball out. York should have won by more but did well considering 20 minutes of the game were spent with just 14 men.    

York 2nd XV: 

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

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This side were full of confidence from their last win against Sunderland, and despite having not played for two weeks, Johnson had stepped up to the mark in training and successfully hit every ruck in the fast moving unopposed drill! In fact however it was reaching the highest point a motorway goes to in the UK on the way over that was one of the few highlights of the day (363 metres I have been reliably informed by team tour guides Bummer & Dark Ash). From the whistle York were given a flavour of things to come: Morty executed a perfect grubber kick to the backs and despite T-Bag collecting the ball a good foot over the 10 metre line, the 2nd XV were pinged by the rather over-weight, slightly homosexual referee who would be better suited to the sex offenders register than the rugby pitch. Indeed some 32 penalties were awarded against York that day of which no more than 5 or 6 were genuine and many totally fictitious – it is only thanks to York’s total domination of territory that the score line was not a lot closer.

The referee was powerless however to penalise York when they were running with ball in hand, and the Huddersfield defence seemed equally ill-equipped to deal with the attacking prowess of York. It was not long before tries started to come. Both Rishi and GHW had fantastic games and were causing problems all across the field for Huddersfield but particularly with ball in hand – they both collected a try. The little hobbit Garmy, always alongside side for the off-load pass capitalised on one of GHW’s devastating run’s and with Gee having beaten most of the field Garmy just had to jog the ball in under the post. Garmston was even more effective with his line-out throwing, in all I believe York only lost around 4 of about forty line out’s with either Captain Tate or SCA getting up just in front of their jumpers every-time, or on the York five man line-out’s the jumpers found themselves virtually unopposed. Another good game was had by the man behind the scenes, Brian Blessed who was making mince meat of the bigger Huddersfield front row.

It was only in the second half that things started to slow a little for York. Matt Pollen having dislocated his finger in the first 15 minutes of the 1^st half was forced to leave the field, but when Mortimer was smashed for around the 10^th time off the ball he went down hard and when un-able to answer either where he was or how many fingers were being held up, he was forced to leave the field. Adam Wood had another excellent game although too, was probably suffering from mild concussion as Huddersfield best palyer, their seven, being given a free license by the referee took every possible opportunity to smash little old man Wood. Indeed at one point when York found themselves penalised 3 consecutive times without any play Wood was so incensed he was found screaming and punching the conversion post shields. Bummer stepped in well at 10, and Tilney made a good come back to the 2nds beign solif in both attack and defence, Abbott had a positive impact off the bench, but in a second half so broken by either penalties or injuries (to both sides) the game was scrappy and there were few truly notable moments.

Tries also came from Niall and Terrager who scored two making it five tries from his last two games, and holds the accolade for opening and ending the scoring in each. Mortimer kicked five of the conversions to bring York to 40 points, only missing one kick from right in the corner.

York 2^nd XV

1.Sheppard, 2. Garmston, 3. Blessed, 4. Carr-Archer, 4. Johnson, 6. Tate, 7. Holder-Williams, 8. Rishi, 9.Wood, 10. Mortimer, 11. Niall, 13. Pollen, 13. Terrager, 14. BOT, 15. Morris, 16. Cross, 17. Huey-Abbott, 18. Alexander, 19.Tilney, 20. Voight.

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As the score-line suggests York delivered a comprehensive and resounding 89 point drumming of Sunderland. The real mismatch between the teams was in the quality of their backlines: York with talent in abundance in this area proved all too much for Sunderland with stand-in fly half Matt Pollen picking up five tries. Lacking Mortimer, full back Tom ‘Bummer’ Morris was also clinical in picking up the extra two points, and in all collected 32 points. Scrum-half Woodley showed his class once again and was particularly efficient with the boot finding Pollen or Gabriel on the end of every kick as regularly as clockwork.  Terrager (T-bag) also collected a hat trick of tries and all the rest of the backline also added themselves to the score board except Woody. No tries did came from numbers 1 to 8.

Nevertheless as any forward will attest, had it not been for the energy about the park, mastery of the lineout’s and all around commitment, the backs wouldn’t have had a ball to play with and the bigger Sunderland pack may have made more of an impression. As it happens the Sunderland pack did have their moment despite resolute York defence and through an endless series of crash balls and consecutive rhino’s they finally managed to cross York’s line. However that was the only sniff Sunderland were allowed all game and had it not been for some very suspect fly hacking coming from open-side flanker Sam Morrisson the Bumblebees could well have picked up a Century. Indeed it was only on his third kicking display instead of picking up the ball and running with it that Morrisson was able to convince the team that his man of the match performance in fact translated to dick of the day!

In all it is a very positive result for the 2nd XV as they now home their sights on promotion into northern conference league 2, yet they do require maximum points from all five remaining games and still have league contenders York St John 1st XV and Sheffield Hallam 2nd XV’s to play. Prediction: York will get promoted after tight games against St John and Hallam as long as they remain injury free and their focus at training remains at match intensity.

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