A very hard first half saw York turn around 7-0 in front; again with a very dominant scrum that pushed Ionians back at a rate of knots. The line out a little inconsistent and then a few unforced errors did not help ‘the cause’. York scored an early converted try through Will Scholey and Alex Riley with the extras, but were then unable to convert chances. The last 10 minutes of the first half saw Hull pressing our line but meeting a cast iron defence of the highest quality - I was very impressed. At the same time we seemed to concede numerous penalties and we were expecting a yellow card at any time – which thankfully never materialised.

The second half produced a festival of champagne rugby from York especially after the scrums became uncontested; good offloads, straight running, inter passing - it was Barbarians Rugby and it produced five wonderful second half tries. Breath-taking rugby! How we are improving.

Ben Dyson Dent was awarded Man of the Match for his performance and the Steel Balls trophy was awarded to the whole team for their collective defensive effort and some great tackling from the whole team. A convincing victory and a bonus point win - what a way to finish the first half of the league season.

Congratulations and thanks to the skipper Kyle Consterdine who has led and directed the team.

Tries: Will Scholey, Will Atkin, Ben Dyson-Dent, Freddie Smith, Oscar Bell, Harry Jinks.
Conversions: Alex Riley 2, Joel Bradley.