York 56 v 20 Knottingley
Saturday 3rd November 2012.
By Steve Maud
Hopefully it will be remember, remember the 3rd of November, as the day York finally launched their long overdue climb up the table from the lowly ninth place, from which they started this morning. Following a couple of unexpected defeats for the league leaders Y.M.C.A and Wath at home last week against lowly opposition, a decent run could see York competing for places at the right end of the table, but they need to cut out the errors and produce some consistency that has been sadly missing. However after a good performance against Heath two weeks ago and a robust effort away at Ilkley last week, which by all reports, could have gone either way, York have the chance to build further, given today’s visitors are the winless Knottingley who are firmly rooted to the bottom of the table.
And that’s exactly what they did. In a 10 try demolition of a poor Knottingley side that to their credit did not roll over or belly up. In fact Knottingley could have taken the lead after 3 minutes when Field (No8) chipped ahead and was only beaten by the bounce of the ball as the try line was at his mercy. This was probably a bit of a wakeup call for York whose lack of accuracy in the early stages kept coughing up possession to a Knottingley side, who were struggling with the York ambition,their efforts to keep the ball alive and attack the wide channels. On 9 minutes following a clever kick into the Knottingley 22 and a good chase York earned themselves an attacking line out. The line-out was tidied up by Kerr who drove the ball on through the forwards when it was released to the backs, it was moved wide, a dropped pass was re- collected and moved to Cakaunitabua on the wing who evaded the last defender to score. Conversion was missed. 5 – 0.
On 19 minutes following another York forward pass on their own 40 metre line Field picked up from the base of the Knottingley scrum, he evaded the York back row defence to then outstripped the cover tackle of Nixon to score a good individual effort and even the scores. 5 – 5.
Remarkably it was the 28th minute when York scored their second try following another attacking lineout in the Knottingley 22. Lewis Hannibal making his debut at open side flanker drove the ball on, before giving the backs quick front foot ball, as the ball was moved wide Eddie Bradshaw cut a great line from the blindside wing to burst through the midfield defence and score York’s second try. Conversion missed. 10 -5. From the restart a catch by Enslin saw the ball moved into the midfield but Martin was tackled well and left isolated, he was penalised for holding on in front of his own posts. Knottingley gratefully accepting the gift of 3 points. 10 – 8.
York would score two further tries before half time through Sam Portrykus and Willem Enslin as they started to reduce the error count and assert their dominance. The game was effectively over at Halftime with a 22 – 8 lead and the bonus point secured, without York ever really getting out of third gear.
The second half started well with the most impressive passage of play to date, 4 phases of controlled possession found Knottingley unable to cover all the attacking options when Nixon crossed to score his first of 3 second half tries, this got the tins moving and they kept rattling as York started to cut loose with Bradshaw getting his second on 48 minutes, Nixon with his second on 52 minutes. 37 - 8
Although being outplayed in all areas of the game Knottingley kept going and earned their second try after 62 minutes of the second half when Piper scored under the posts from short range, this followed a quick tap penalty after a York indiscretion on their own 5 metre line. This he duly converted. 37 – 15.
On 65 minutes York moved the ball from off the top of line out. Martin made a great break through the midfield following another excellent Ben Johnson pass, he switched the ball back inside to Hargreaves who was hauled down just short of the line, but his pop pass was collected by Kirker who seemed to take an eternity to get the ball down for his debut try. Johnson converted 44 – 15.
York moved the ball at every opportunity and on 70 minutes following another impressive York attack, Knottingley were penalised deep inside their own 22 in front of their posts. A quick tap saw Johnson put Nixon running a wide line into space with an exquisite 20 metre pass. 49 – 15.
York weren’t finished as Fox who was impressive all afternoon combined well in the back line only to be tackled short before a pass out of the back of his hand saw Sam Portrykus on hand to score his second and York’s tenth try under the posts. Johnson converted 56 – 15.
A good performance was tainted a little for the York coaching staff when poor goal-line defence saw a game Knottingley score the last try of the game through Steve Seed with the referee playing injury time. 56 – 20 the final score.
Some positives from today’s game other than the obvious 5 point bonus win was the impressive debut by Hannibal in the fetcher role together with the distribution by Ben Johnson who marshalled the now impressive attacking threat of the York back line well. We do however need to find a goal kicker and soon, for what will be the inevitable closer encounters ahead.