York played the first match of the ‘round robin’ stage of the RFU Intermediate Cup yesterday, hosting Medicals from Newcastle-upon-Tyne. Both teams looking to reach the final which is played at Twickenham. Shane Goulding was absent so Joe Maud started at number eight, Luke Stockton played at flanker and Daz Rutherford joined Chris Fox in the second row. Jon Dawes partnered captain Sam Forbes in the centres with George Davies playing at full back.

The strength of the York team and their good form was evident, they scored four tries within the first twenty minutes. George Davies was in the attacking line and the ball was fed accurately to him. He received the ball at pace and scored. Jon Dawes scored the second try, again finding and exploiting space to finish a fluid attack. The Medical’s defence couldn’t hold Joe Maud and he gained sixty metres before passing to Toby Atkin to score. Joe Maud capped a structured driving maul with a try. Jon Dawes missed two (wide) conversions and kicked two to begin. Medicals got their only points of the game. Fergus Robertson at inside centre got on the outside of his defender and showed good running balance. Henry Parkinson (the Medical’s fly-half) kicked the extra two points. York scored four more tries before half time. Lewis Hannibal (flanker) ran forward, the passing was accurate again and Joe Maud scored. Lewis Hannibal got his own try next after an effective line out. Chris Fox capitalised on a turnover of possession, he linked with Will Atkin on the wing who found a supporting Toby Atkin to score. The Medical’s defence committed to stopping York prop forward Steve Johnson but Toby Atkin used the space created to score his hat-trick try. Jon Dawes converted three out of these four tries, he hit the post with the other kick. The score was 50-7 at half time.

York continued to score tries in the second half. George Davies finished off a break by Jon Dawes, Will Atkin fed Toby Atkin to score and Chris Fox broke free and passed to George Davies to get another try. All three tries were converted, the third being an excellent strike. Five more York tries followed. George Davies scored his fourth try after linking with Rob Hodges (winger) who then got his own try in the corner. Joe Maud released Liam Hessay to score, Will Atkin got a try after a messy breakdown and Joe Maud scored his second try to end the game after a line out drive. Liam Hessay missed the wide conversion to leave York two points short of a century. The match finished 98-7.

Many congratulations to Tom Williams (flanker) who made his debut for the York first team after playing for York in the juniors and colts. Lewis Jackson (prop-forward) also represented an ever-strong York youth section.
York wait until February before their next game in the cup, away at Gateshead.