Rugby Lions made it four wins out of five at home this season with a hard-fought victory over Harrogate. In unpleasant cold and wet conditions, the game never really developed any pattern due to the number of errors committed by both sides, and the spectacle produced will not live long in the memory.

Rugby kicked off into the wind towards the scoreboard end and started brightly with a series of drives, but it was clear from the outset that Harrogate were well organised in defence. When the visitors did win the ball they used the elements well and pinned Rugby back with long kicks to the corner opposite the clubhouse. A good back’s move from the visitors saw them take the lead with fly half Mark Honeybunn touching down. A strong tackle from the covering Ade Hales just failed to stop the scorer, with momentum taking him over the line. The conversion was short to leave the visitors with a 5-0 lead.

From the re-start, Tristan Prosser-Shaw was wrongly adjudged to have been in front of the kicker – one of many decisions that frustrated the crowd in the first half. Harrogate were looking dangerous in spells and were rewarded after 20 minutes when Lions were penalised for handling the ball on the ground. The penalty was converted to extend the lead to 8-0. A strong drive from the home pack down the left touchline led to Ade Hales running across to his opposite wing and slipping the ball inside back-handed to James Hawken who knocked the ball on. Harrogate were exploiting the referee’s reluctance to penalise offside to the full which stifled Rugby’s attempts to run the ball. When scrum half Handley was taken out with the ball still in the ruck, the penalty was inevitable, although following a long discussion with the touch judge, the decision was bizarrely reversed for something only he saw. Prosser-Shaw then streaked down the blind side and passed to Hales on the wing, but the ball was deliberately knocked forward by a visiting hand and then picked up by a Harrogate player who was two metres in front of him. Only a scrum was awarded, but justice was done when Hales repeated his run across field, and in an action replay, slipped the ball out of the back of his hand. This time the ball was taken by Tom Harris who streaked over for an excellent try. Hawken converted to reduce the deficit to 7-8. A string of contentious penalties were conceded by Rugby, which eventually led to a rolling maul try for the visitors with Yorkshire man Juan-Pierre Pretorius claiming the score.

With the elements now in their favour, Rugby dominated territory in the second half although they struggled to break down Harrogate’s defence. An early penalty by Hawken reduced the deficit to 10-13, and shortly after he had the chance to tie the scores with another attempt from virtually the same position. Although the kick was dead straight, it lacked strength and fell just under the crossbar. Another penalty conceded for not releasing allowed Hawken to level the score and the momentum was with the home side.

Harrogate’s set scrum was beginning to creak loudly, and they were struggling to win possession, although they still defended manfully. Lion’s took the lead for the first time when the visitor’s handled the ball in a ruck, and Hawken made no mistake with the conversion. Harrogate’s restart went straight out for the second time and following a lovely touch kick from Hawken, they were under pressure again.

The decisions seemed to be going in Lion’s favour now, and a penalty in front of the posts from about 30 metres was surprisingly pushed wide by Hawken. When the visitors finally got out of their own half, a huge kick from fly half Peter Glackin, who controlled the back line well, sent them back deep into their 22. Lion’s stole the lineout and Shaun Brady charged for the try line. Although he was brought down, the referee was playing advantage for offside! James Hawken completed the scoring with his fourth penalty goal of the match.

Not a pretty game to watch, but it is good to know that Rugby can tough it out when required in tricky conditions against a well-organised outfit like Harrogate.

In those glorious amateur days, now long gone, when training could only refer to the usual method of getting to an away game, Rugby FC had a nucleus of regular, mostly local annual fixtures. Some of these would be alternate home and away with a two-year cycle, while others would be both home and away in the one season. As the years went by more fixtures would be added, including clubs from further away. In National 3 North there are three such clubs that were added to the Lions list in the 1960s namely, Fylde, Preston Grasshoppers, Hull Ionians (in their former guise as Hull & East Riding) and this Saturday’s visitors, Harrogate.

During those earlier years, before the league competition began, both Harrogate and Rugby enjoyed about the same level of success in winning games on each others own turf. During the competitive seasons that followed after 1986/87 Harrogate only secured two victories out of ten league games. Both, however, were obtained at Webb Ellis Road and just by chance they were the first and last league games to be played there. The very last game was played at Claro Road and won 30-35 by Rugby.

This season Rugby and Harrogate have both performed somewhat erratically and are only two places and two points apart in the league table. The result of Saturday’s game is now absolutely crucial if Rugby still entertains the possibility of a promotion ladder, but hardly less important if their table position is to be held far enough away from the dreaded drop zone. The same applies to the visitors, especially as they have just slid down a snake. So once again it will be down to motivation and the will to win. You did it against Tynedale Lions, now go and do it again!!