Burley RUFC 2nd XV 22 – 24 Harrogate Pythons RUFC 2nd XV
Match Report & Pictures – Neil Summersall
With an AWO (Away Walk Over) awarded to Pirates with York RI not able to field a team, The 2’s travelled to Burley with a squad reduced to 18 players due to a couple of late dropouts. Jed Wolfram, making his return after a long injury break, kicked off and despite a massive hit by Sam Fulton, Burley recycled and went wide to their speedy winger who crossed in the corner. 5-0 1 min. The first scrum saw the Pirates push Burley backwards and Ryan Bradshaw broke from the base to feed Nick Bell who stepped round several tackles by was brought down short. From a scrum, again the Pirates drove forward and Bradshaw linked with Zippy, who crossed in the corner. 5-5 7 mins. A clever cross kick by Wolfram was almost collected by Louis Dabhi-Green and from the resulting scrum, the Pirates pack again drove forward allowing Bradshaw to pick up and drive over. 5-10 12 mins. Burley then enjoyed a long period of pressure but were kept out by strong defence. The referee awarded Burley a penalty under the posts. They went for a quick tap and went wide for the winger to cross. 10-10 20 mins. A central scrum saw Zippy find Dabhi-Green who was stopped short and the Pirates went through the phases before Nick Bell stepped through several tackles to score by the posts. Wolfram added the conversion. 10-17 37 mins. Then with the last play of the half, Zippy spotted a huge gap in the Burley defence and kicked into it. The ball sat up nicely for the chasing Dabhi-Green to gather and touch down by the posts. Wolfram added the extras to make the half time score Burley 10 Pirates 24.
The second half started in scrappy fashion with both defences in the ascendency but Zippy had to leave the field with a head knock and was replaced by Jack Alderton. Burley were awarded a penalty under the posts and a quick tap saw a big Burley runner crash in under the posts. 17-24 48 mins. A lovely break from defence saw Dabhi-Green find Nathan Kemeny who’s inside pass found Bell who raced away only to be floored by a desperate tap tackle. Burley were now been drawn into an arm wrestle by the Pirates with old heads Si Rodham and Sidders relishing the challenge. The Burley centre broke clear and looked certain to score only to be tackled on the line by Bell and Sidders picked up the loose ball and charged 40 yards out of defence. A stream of penalties led to the Pirates been trapped in the bottom corner and from another penalty a Burley forward crashed over. 20 22 74 mins. Another long distance break by Burley led to a tense final few minutes with Burley camped on the Pirates line. Some furious defence held the line solid and the ref blew for full time leaving the final score Burley 22 Pirates 24.
