By Sam Russell
York put in a resilient performance this weekend to beat promotion rivals Liverpool, and progress to Round Three of the BUCS cup.
James Faktor rose highest to win the ball from a line-out early on in the Saturday afternoon encounter, and York battled and pushed back the Liverpool defence. Will Forsythe broke through to score the first try and then James Mortimer converted.
Richard Bremner and Pete Tarrega troubled Liverpool with agile runs, but could not find a way through the defence. York’s enthusiasm couldn’t be doubted, whilst the crowd were in stitches when Rory McGregor speculatively dived over Liverpool’s goal line in pursuit of a long-gone ball.
George Wissen aggravated a shoulder injury he had picked up earlier, and had to be substituted for Rishi Naidoo, who was promptly called into action, chasing back to dive on a loose ball wobbling worrying towards the line.
The last five minutes of the first half were tense for York. Liverpool had the home side pushed back to the hilt and Mortimer and McGregor were sin-binned for fouls in the ruck. The thirteen men were struggling to contain Liverpool, whose giant locks charged for the line time and time again. The pressure was finally alleviated when Gabriel Adebiyi broke free with the ball.
Liverpool were butter-fingered at the start of the second half and failed to capitalise on their numerical advantage. Will Ward went close to scoring a penalty for York; his shot bounced off the bar and dropped back down on the wrong side. Within moments of the return of York’s sin-binned players, Liverpool scored a try, and converted to equalise.
The challenge intensified for York when Mortimer was sent off for a second bookable offence. However, they continued to push forward and won another penalty, with Bremner sending the ball high over the bar to put York 10-7 ahead.
York were a man down for the majority of the second half, but fought hard and held on. Captain Tom Weir hailed his team’s grit; impressed by their achievement of holding off opponents greater in numbers for most of the match. The third round of the cup will be contested on the 26th of January, when York will play either Worcester 1sts or Nottingham 3rds.
In the league, the push for promotion continues. Weir acknowledges the toughness of the challenge of toppling the league’s high-fliers, Manchester, and believes that in order to gain promotion they will “need to be beaten”. York will take confidence from a resilient performance this weekend.
Line-up:
1 George Wissen
2 Gregor Morris
3 Rupert Grant
4 Will Forsythe
5 Tom Weir (c)
6 Mike Ager
7 James Faktor
8 Rory McGregor
9 Will Ward
10 James Mortimer
11 Gabriel Adebiyi
12 Matt Pollen
13 Ed Drewett
14 Pete Tarrega
15 Richard Bremner
17 Rishi Naidoo
Thanks for the coverage, but there are a few mistakes – Richard Bremner got the winning kick not Will Ward (though Ward had an excellent debut).
Correct spellings of players’ names – Rishi Naidoo*, Ed Drewett* and Pete Tarrega* though I admit your versions of their names are amusing. Gabriel, does in fact have a surname – Adebiyi. Also Ben Turner came on at scrum half to replace Ward and helped close the game out….
A few more corrections – Mikey Ager (aka the Slayer) was the over enthusiastic person that dived on the ball in his comeback into the 1stXV!
Great reporting Vision!
Apologies for the errors, they’ve now been amended.