It was cold, grey, and threatening with rain, as the two teams lined up to fulfil the Silence to honour our late Queen.
There was an end to end breeze as York, with it at their backs, kicked off to start a period where both sides were testing their opponents with enterprising forays but were guilty of basic errors. The home side were showing good intent but York were competing well in the tackle and at the breakdown. York’s scrummage also showed well and so although Billingham were possibly winning the territorial battle, there was no panic in the York ranks. Indeed when the home side were penalised for a scrum infringement Davies found an excellent touch, and although the line out was scrappy and lost, the immediately following scrum gave fly half Davies the chance to directly attack the Billingham defence, dummy and put Fordy through under the posts. Davies converted (0 -7). My colleague in the press box whispered on the restart…. “don’t give them back the initiative….”, as the ball bounced into touch. Sadly York did, by loosing their own line out, and allowing Billingham to drive through under the posts. The conversion levelled the score. (7 – 7). York’s full back Elliot was injured at this point and had to be substituted.
The game became fairly scrappy with dropped passes, knocks on and charged down clearances, although York’s Atkin led the way forward with a couple of strong forays, the second of which saw skipper White lose the ball when just short of the line. Billingham were struggling to clear and from one line out conceded, as play broke towards mid field, Atkin broke blind fed Willem who turned the ball inside to Jackson who charged forward through or over, hapless defenders, the last of whom seemed to bounce off the “ flying” Louis. Davies again converted. (7 – 14)
Although York did not concede immediately on the restart, following a home clearance kick, York lost an important line out. Subsequently they were penalised on the ground and Billingham kicked for the corner and from the line out maul, they got over the York line which was converted. (14-14).
The home side finished the half on the attack and were held up over the line by desperate York defence.
The start of the second half showed the size of the problem for York. They took the restart well but after 5 or 6 phases had not exited their own territory before being forced into a clearance kick, which did not travel any great distance.
The home side were now building pressure, moving from side to side, but resolute defence, and their own mistakes kept them at bay. York too, when Billingham were penalised for a scrummage offence, contributed to their own problems by losing the subsequent line out. However following a York knock on and subsequent scrum, the home side attacked in waves and eventually went over in numbers. Again converted. (21-14)
From the restart York spread the ball wide but again a fumbled knock on ceded the ball to the home side. However the pressure was eased on York when Billingham kicked dead. It was about this time that the York scrum began to struggle, possibly due to the rearrangement of the front row, but it meant that not being able to attack via either their line out or scrum, the flow of play was a bit one way. No surprise then when York were penalised, possibly for obstruction, and the penalty was converted. (24-14)
By now the rain was sweeping in against York making the task more difficult, although Billingham contrived to kick dead again so letting York off the hook.
In a final flourish York attacked up the right side, Billingham were penalised in their own 22 and York opted for the scrum. The ball was not clean and the home side got to it first on the ground. That rather summed up a strange performance which fizzled out in very difficult conditions.
It is difficult to assess this performance. There were some very strong personal performances, but oh so many unforced errors and also some strange decisions especially with regards to the line outs. On a windy wet day the ball to the back of the line becomes a lottery!!

Thank you to Jack Sinclair for the Match Report
Photo courtesy of Craig Ransom Photography