York went into this game with revenge on their mind, could the last game of the season have a better ending than the first that was a poor afternoon at Shaw Lane. On paper the answer was yes, but it was apparent, that certainly for the first 12 minutes Barnsley had not read the script, it was they who played with the ball and scored a penalty on 10 minutes, York not able to get the ball.

York started to settle down, scoring a try, through Joe Maud, Dawes adding the extras. On 17 minutes Dawes made it 10 - 3, from a penalty. York were now playing better rugby, leading to a Ben Johnson try, which Dawes converted 17-3.

York were continuing where they left off at Scarborough last week, they were pressurising the Barnsley scrum, the Barnsley loosehead seemed to lose his footing a lot under the pressure from Ben H. Daz R adding to the need for Barnsley’s scrum to use reverse gear quite a lot, in the second half, Barnsley beefed up their scrum, to little avail.
Nice to see a referee who wanted to see scrummaging, resetting scrums rather than giving in to penalties and free kick, thank you ref.

Away from the tight play, Barnsley were trying to play open rugby, the best of which was an attack up the right, but yet again Billy sighted his prey, tackling him into touch. This pressure led to a transgression from York that led to a kicked penalty, 17 – 6, 30minutes gone.

York drove a maul 30metres from a lineout. After a good drive from Hepworth, Kay and Enslin Dawes scored a try wide out right, 24 – 6. Half time.

Within a minute of the restart, Billy runs in a try, this followed good driving by the York forwards, Dawes adding the extras. Barnsley missing out on a try, leading to a York 22m dropout, York could not relax.
York pass the ball well, Pete Martin throws out a miss pass to the right, hitting Gareth Singleton, who finished off the try at speed, conversion good, 38 – 6.

From the kick off Kay and Fox drive well, but the passing goes to ground leading to a Barnsley scrum.

Barnsley are heartened by an unconverted try, they are still trying to run the ball, their big centre being key, he showed enterprise, from his own 22, with a good chip and chase, which lead to nothing, due to good defence from York.

On 65 minutes, Dawes takes a bouncing ball in the York 22, feeds it out to Charlie Nicholson, 10 seconds later try under the posts, and I will never tire of watching him with the ball. Both teams lose a player to the sin bin, Benson for York, and Jeffels for Barnsley, for being overzealous in the loose.

With 15 minutes to go at 45 – 11, it would have been easy for Barnsley to lie down, but they were still throwing the ball wide and driving for the line. They end up with the last score of the game out wide on the left, going unconverted, full time 45 – 16.

York end the season on a high, giving a good platform for next season. The team has come together well after a shaky start to the season, having lost some games by 2 or 3 points, had the end of season performance been there all season where would they be now? Well done guys. Good luck next season.