Pythons blown away by Baildon
Harrogate Pythons welcomed 3rd placed Baildon to a windy Station View, hoping to consolidate their top 4 position in Yorkshire 3. The Pythons kicked off with the strong wind behind them and immediately made good inroads with driving runs from Tim Evans and Will Butler. The first scrum saw Baildon pushed backwards but the Baildon scrum half rescued the situation with a clever kick which was well defused by full back Ollie Myers. Baildon were then under pressure from a Jed Carr kick but this time the Baildon full back reacted well to the danger. James Audsley-Beck made a break from scrum half and Baildon were penalised for offside in the ruck. Max Sharp stepped forward to give the Pythons an early lead with the penalty. 3-0 10 mins.
The Pythons were now enjoying their best period of the game with Hugh Tatlow securing good line out ball and strong carries from Sandy Dunlop, Ed Challis and Luke Price-Gerrard been met by equally determined Baildon defence. From a scrum Audsley-Beck whipped out quick ball to Carr who spotted a gap and jinked his way over to score by the posts. Sharp added the extras. 10-0 20 mins. Baildon started to get on top in the lineouts and were gaining in confidence as the Pythons started to make handling errors and concede penalties. From a scrum the Baildon No8 broke blind and fed the scrum half who put the winger away. He stepped inside Myers and raced away to score by the posts. 10-7 35 mins. Then Baildon took advantage of more penalties to keep possession on the last play of the half to eventually crash over to make the half time score Pythons 10 Baildon 12.
The 2nd period saw the Pythons pinned back deep in their own territory with the Baildon stand-off using the wind to telling effect. A long distance penalty was conceded which was successfully converted to extend the Baildon lead to 10-15. Coach Dan Bird brought himself and Sam Beagrie on to stem the tide and the introduction of Bailey Bromberg to make his league debut gave the Pythons some attacking impious. John Paul George Ward made his debut at prop and added further grunt, however, 2 more Baildon penalties made the final score Pythons 10 Baildon 21.
The Pythons will be looking to get the season back on track with an away fixture at Aireborough next weekend.
