Scarboro’ sizzle on derby day
A game of skill and passion saw Scarborough triumph over York in what was the most exciting contest ever seen at Silver Royd.
A game of skill and passion which ebbed and flowed from start to finish saw Scarborough and York share 15 tries with the hosts just edging what was undoubtedly the most exciting contest ever seen at Silver Royd.
York took possession from the kick-off and kicked a penalty to the corner and from the resulting line-out they drove over with fly-half Liam Hessay touching down in the fourth minute.
Full-back John Dawes missed a difficult conversion in the swirling wind.
From the re-start York regained possession and spread the ball wide left, where centre George Davies cut inside and galloped over between the uprights.
Dawes added the extras for a 12-0 York lead following an opening period when Scarborough failed to get their hands on the ball.
Many feared the Seasiders may be swamped early in the game, but they showed great resilience and fighting spirit living off scraps in the face of some brilliant possession rugby from the visitors.
They then came storming back with tries from scrumhalf Jordy Wakeham, who took a quick-tap from a penalty in the York half to jink his way through the visiting defence to score in the eighth minute and wing Jack Anderson, who showed his opposite number a clean pair of heels to power to over in the 15th minute to level the scores at 12-12.
Fly-half Tom Ratcliffe converted Wakeham’s effort.
Scarborough’s ‘in your face’ attitude at the breakdown was exemplified by French prop Alexi Coré, who stole the ball at a ruck midway in the visitors’ half and muscularly barged his way through a posse of defenders for a brilliant solo try in the 25th minute.
Ratcliffe converted for a 1912 Scarborough lead.
The Minstermen, who played some terrific rugby throughout, regained control and tries from number eight Shane Goulding and wing Rich Downey, converted by Dawes, saw them lead 24-19 at the break following a breathtaking first 40 minutes.
The champagne stuff continued after the break with Scarborough running in four tries without reply in 25 minutes, flanker Aaron Wilson, debutant forward Cade Robinson, lock Tom Hicks and Wakeham touching down.
Ratcliffe converted two and with quarter of an hour to go Scarborough led 43-24. Game over? Not a bit of it. The gutsy Minstermen just wouldn’t lie down and regained control up front, running in another three tries.
Hessay, followed by winger Gary Singleton then full-back Dawes crossed in the space of six minutes.
Dawes converted two and the visitors had stunned the Silver Royd crowd into silence, drawing level at 43-43 with three minutes to go.
With the game looking set for what would have been an unlikely draw the young Scarborough side drove deep into York territory and Wakeham threw a miss-pass to Jack Anderson just outside the visitors’ 22.
He turned on the afterburners to take him to the line where he was held up.
The ball was recycled and Wakeham passed inside and Matty Jones looped in to crash through and scatter a line of defending bodies on the line to score in the 81st minute and Silver Royd went wild.
Ratcliffe landed the difficult wide conversion for a 5043 win and a stunning end to a magnificent contest.
This was a game which could have gone either way and which neither side deserved to lose.
York for the most part played an entertaining brand of running rugby augmented by excellent ball retention.
Scarborough had to live off scraps for much of the time but were inventive, slick and played with controlled aggression in broken play.
Newcomer Cade Robinson had an outstanding debut and bagged himself a try.
The whole forward pack worked their collective socks off and prop Coré had his best game for the club.
Behind them Wakeham took the plaudits with Ratcliffe and Perrett in a buzzing back line.