Scarboro’ RUFC lose to Morley
Simon Smith’s North One East leaders lose out 15-9 away at Morley
Scarborough RUFC slipped to their third defeat of the season but still remain top of the North East One standings.
MORLEY 15 SCARBROUGHRUFC 9 Scarborough RUFC slipped to their third defeat of the season, losing 15-9 at Morley, but still remain top of the North East One standings.
The visitors made the perfect start after they won a penalty in front of the posts with flyhalf Tom Ratcliffe making easy work of the kick to give his side an early lead at 3-0.
Despite the flying start, Morley hit back with an unconverted try in the sixth minute.
The ball was spread wide and outside centre Larne Patrick crashed over in the corner for 5-3.
Scarboroughrespondedin the best possible way, applying pressure on the Maroons defence, but were soon penalised for holding onto the ball in the ruck.
Simon Smith’s side showed resilience when under pressure and managed to win the ball back on their own line.
In the 16th minute, a perfectly-weighted kick over the top was collected by winger Joe Marshall, but his off-load was lost backwards by Jonty Holloway.
In the 26th minute Luke Brown received the game’s first yellow card after an infringement at the ruck and the hosts made use of the extra man as they scored the game’s second try as the ball was moved wide and West found space to cruise over, the conversion was missed by Mark Chester for 10-3.
A late tackle from skipper Drew Govier in the 34th minute presented Morley with the chance to go for the corner again.
The ball was collected from the line-out and as the maul crossed the line prop Alex Fishwick collected to score his side’s third unconverted try to stretch their lead to 15-3.
The first half was brought to a close after Ratcliffe added another three points to his side’s total for 15-6.
Having survived an early scare at the start of the second-half, the gap was shortenedasRatcliffekicked his third penalty to reduce the arrears to 15-9.
Smith’s outfit continued to show great character in defence to again deny the opposition.
In the 58th minute they superbly stole the ball back and kicked clear to relieve the pressure.
Morley responded and broke quickly through the line, only to fall short due to them knocking on close to the Scarborough line.
The momentum continued to swing and with 10 minutes to go Scarborough applied the pressure in search of a match-winning try. Ratcliffe’s cross-field kick bounced well for Jack Anderson, but West collected for the hosts and was bundled away. The ball was then lost forward in a dangerous position and scrum-half Richard Knowles could box-kick straight into the opposition’s 22. Having struggled to break down the Morley defence, Ratcliffe kicked clear but when Harrison Baylis called mark he conceded a free-kick. The ball was spread wide from the attacking scrum but was soon lost in the tackle and Morley had secured the win.