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Photos: Tom Wooldridge
York’s rugby 1st XV held on to a crucial victory in their quest for promotion after seeing off a late Liverpool surge.
York possessed a comfortable 26-10 lead at the interval thanks to a scintillating half of attacking rugby which Liverpool simply could not deal with.
But the second half was a completely different tale as York were penalised with two sin-bins and Liverpool roared back into life with three tries.
York eventually secured victory, their fourth in five league games, by the narrowest of margins to the relief of the players and fans on the touchline.
Such anxiety towards the end for York was hardly foreseeable during a first half display which oozed confidence as the scoreboard kept ticking over.
Within just five minutes, York registered first as Will Sharp thundered over the line. Liverpool were outnumbered on their right hand side after York moved the ball swiftly from the scrum and quick hands from Tom Chadwick, who also converted, and Sam Durno set Sharp up perfectly.
Liverpool quickly hit back with a try of their own after a maul pushed York back at least 10 metres and the fullback touched down.
It was one of the few attacks Liverpool engineered in the first half and York still remained firmly in control with their stylish attacking play.
A scrum was secured on the 10 metre line as York continued to enjoy more territory, and their second try eventually arrived on the quarter-hour.
Tristan Burd spread play out to Chadwick who in turn fed Will Peters, and the inside-centre produced the cutest of kicks to cut open the Liverpool defence and allow Conan Osborne to touch down just before the pitch ran out. York led 12-5.
The pressure continued to be piled on the uncertain visitors as Hugo Watson was only just stopped by the full-back after a mazy run, but Adam Gaskell made sure of the third try moments later.
York designed the perfect try-scoring opportunity, developing a five-metre lineout into a deadly scrum and the men in black and gold smashed their way to the try line through Adam Gaskell, before Chadwick converted.
Liverpool began to enjoy more possession but the forwards of York – namely Hugh Draycott and Harry Pampiglione – ensured they rarely ventured beyond the half-way line.
York duly punished their opponents once again from another scrum situation to make it 26-5.
Chadwick again was at the heart of things, feeding Hugo Watson who meandered through a stationary Liverpool backline to score under the posts, and the former converted successfully for a third time.
Liverpool capped an eventful first half with their second, albeit unconverted, try of the day – more down to sloppy concentration from York than a mesmerizing attacking move – as the outside-centre scored with apparent ease.
York maintained their intensity at the start of the second period, although their fifth try came from an unlikely source.
Hooker Hugh Draycott crashed over after York caught Liverpool out with a short lineout, and although Chadwick missed the penalty York had a commanding 31-10 advantage.
But then the tide turned. Liverpool were awarded a seven-point penalty try after Will Peters was confusingly sin-binned for committing three offside offences.
With the lead cut to 31-17, York suffered another blow as Fraser Kirkley was yellow-carded for a repeated offence which again perplexed both players and spectators alike.
Down to just 13 men with 10 minutes remaining, York were at their most vulnerable and Liverpool capitalised by outnumbering the hosts in a maul to bring the scores to 31-22.
With five minutes remaining, things became very nervous for York as Liverpool scored yet again, as the inside-centre powered through a York defence full of holes to make it 31-27.
But York heroically held on by the skin of their teeth, finding touch when necessary and winding the clock down as they returned to their full contingent of 15 men.
After the nail-biting finale, captain Sam Lord told Vision:”We were hard done by the referee by we need to look at ourselves and stop letting teams back into the game. For the first 50 minutes we were excellent. I was really pleased with the character of the guys to stick in there and get us through, but there’s still plenty to work on.”
Vision MOTM: Hugo Watson