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Photos: Tom Wooldridge
York 2nds rugby team lost out yesterday in a hard fought but ultimately disappointing match against Leeds 3rds.
Despite conceding an early try, they started the game strongly with many breaks into Leeds’ 22, earning themselves a try through scrum half Alex Cormack off the back of some strong scum work on the 15 minute mark. The missed conversion saw them trailing 5-7, as Leeds kicked off again.
However, a lack of communication saw Leeds make huge territorial games straight off, and they went crashing over after a lineout on the five-metre line for their second try minutes later, edging them ahead 5-12.
York responded strongly, making good yards down the pitch with some sound kicking from Ed Harris. Good pressure on the Leeds try line saw York awarded a 5meter scrum. After being held up twice, Rory Mercer finally crossed the line to score York’s second try, and the successful conversion saw the two teams level at 12 apiece.
The rest of the first half saw Leeds and York trading penalties and kicking for touch, until Leeds went for the posts about 5 minutes from half time, inching them ahead. Harris missed a chance to draw them level in the last minute of the half.
The second half brought a huge change to the game. Leeds came out firing, while York seemed to have lost enthusiasm during the break. Leeds went over for three soft tries during the first ten minutes, creating a seemingly unassailable 36-12 lead.
It wasn’t until Rich Rhodes spotted a gap in the Leeds defence and got some more points on the board that York seemed to wake up and start fighting for the game again. Ten minutes of good play and pressure from the men in black and gold paid off when Santiago picked up a deserved, but controversial, try from a fumbled ball, pulling York to within ten points.
Unfortunately, it was a case of too little too late and a late Leeds charge down try put the score at 43-26.
Captain Rob Golding said after the match “We had a fantastic first half, but just seemed to be a different team in the second. I don’t know what happened, we let in three soft tries, but for most of the match I felt we were the better side. We were certainly handing it to them in the last twenty five minutes.”
Alex Cormack said “It was a real shame, we wanted to build from last week.”