A minute’s silence started the afternoon’s events giving many time to reflect on the sad loss of our friend Colin Ventress whose broad smile has been a feature in the York RUFC family for many years. Rest in Peace Colin. The game was a great celebration of his life, one he would have loved to have watched.

Sandal travelled to York in second place in the table, a fistful of try bonus points testimony to their resurgence and playing style after indifferent form in recent seasons. By contrast, York’s recent form had gained them third place in the table with a series of narrow wins against poorer opposition. Hopeful York would turn them over at Clifton Park, the York faithful assumed it would be the traditional close encounter. It is fair to say that what was about to unfold was a shock and delight to the York support.

The opening quarter of the game saw both sides committed completely to the task in hand of establishing a platform and territory. The ground shook on the touchline as both sides ran and tackled hard, no quarter given by either side. The York pack slipped into their usual assault pattern, looking to wear down the opposition, Jackson pirouetting out of first contact into the second to set up further phase ball to be carried hard again by his colleagues. The Sandal No8, whose shoulders were so broad they seemed to stretch the whole width of the scrum, relished the physicality and led the Sandal defence with bone crunching tackles.

York had the better of the first quarter, retaining possession for long periods and camping in the Sandal half, the pattern broken only by a lovely arcing run from Fordy that put the York attack behind the otherwise solid defence. The deadlock was broken in the 17th minute when Shackleton gave a beautiful dummy and stepped over the line after good approach work by the pack to open the scoring at the Kit Kat End, converting his own try from wide out on the right. York 7, Sandal 0.

The combination of the score and perhaps the Sandal left wing being given 10 minutes in the sin bin for a reckless tackle on Peplinski seemed to be a turning point as York took complete control. The platform established, York started to move the ball across the back line both left and right with a fluency we haven’t seen for some time. The Sandal defence was stretched with both Fordy and Forbes asking questions in the centre that preserved space on the outside for the wings to exploit; the scramble defence of Sandal desperately keeping them out.

York’s second try came after 26m when they managed to force their way over wide on the left with Fordy getting the ball to ground. Unconverted, the gap increased to 12-0 but it was one way traffic at this stage. Arguably the try of the match came nine minutes later when Sandal tried to kick themselves out of defence with a long kick downfield. Peplinski collected. From the catch he popped the ball to Davies who set off on the counter, Peplinski in support. Davies drew the tackler and put Peplinski into space who carried deep into the Sandal half before drawing the covering defender and feeding Atkin who crossed to the left of the posts unopposed. Shackelton converted to extend the lead to 19 points to 0.

Sandal’s persistence and never say die attitude paid off as they managed to pull one score back just before the whistle, ending the half 19-7 but they looked pretty shell shocked and shaken as they regrouped for the half time team talk, seemingly bewildered by the pace, power and precision of the York team in the second quarter.

Sandal started the second half determined to get back into the game. A more combative and competitive attitude ruffled York feathers but they held their discipline and stuck to the task in hand. The back three had an outstanding day clearing up anything kicked towards them and countering with good effect. Davies collected the high ball in his own half and countered before releasing Peplinski with a delightful grubber kick behind the fast-encroaching defence. Peplinski showed his speed to recollect the ball and set up the ruck. Swift hands across the backs and some straight running by Jackson set up the position for Rae to score wide on the right at the Yorkie End. A superb conversion by Shackleton extended the score to 26 points to 7. Fordy added to the scoreline four minutes later, taking the score to 31 points to 7.

Sandal rallied, looking for a bonus point, the game having escaped them. Their backs and forwards combined well with some intricate interplay and sleight of hand at the breakdown. Sandal don’t have six try bonus points for nothing and the ball seemed to dance lightly through the hands of their lively three-quarter line as they tried to find the gaps in the York defence. The York defence relaxed a little and allowed Sandal some space which they exploited with two converted tries either side of York’s last try by Peplinski. Despite the Sandal effort, York never lost control of the game and the result never looked in doubt. Final score York 36, Sandal 21.

This was a thrilling game to watch with a performance from York that made a good Sandal side look average. A dominant controlled performance characterised by teamwork, discipline, good decision making and accurate execution. The handling and lines of running in the three quarters, particularly from Fordy and Forbes, fully exploiting the hard work of the pack to give them a platform to play off.

York: Davies, Peplinski, Fordy, Forbes, Rae, Shackleton, Atkin, Jackson, Mills, Scholey, Croft, Stockton, Fothergill, Simpson, Du Boulay. Rep: Consterdine, Russell, Goulding.

Referee: Mr Matthew Higgins