Bradford Salem
W 26-33
League
05-04-2025
Scarborough - 1st XV
By Charlie Hopper
Scarborough RUFC signed off their Regional Two North East campaign in impressive fashion as they picked up a 33-26 win on the road at Bradford Salem.
In need of a win to secure second place, Matty Jones’ side made a slow start to the game and found themselves 5-0 down inside the first five minutes. Meli Tuicina finished off a well worked move to give his side an early lead. It went from bad to worse for Scarborough as Salem capitalised on a bouncing ball and Josh Charnock raced clear to score. Andrew Robinson added the extras for 12-0. Scarborough then responded with a handful of chances of their own. First Ropeti Ropeti dropped the ball close to the Salem line before Jonty Holloway weaved through the tackles to score. In the 36th minute, the game was brought level courtesy of Ropeti. The Prop spotted a gap in the defence, broke through and scored to the left of the posts. Ollie Carroll added the extras for 12-12.
The second half started in emphatic fashion with the visitors taking the lead for the first time. Sam Dawson powered his way through the middle of the park before winning his side a penalty. Kahu Craig Te-Ranga took the penalty quickly and walked a try in under the posts. The frustrations from Salem began to boil over and their captain Christian Baines was shown a red card for a no arms tackle on Drew Govier. With a man advantage, Scarborough further extended their lead in the 53rd minute. Carroll weaved his way through the defence to score under the posts for 26-12. Salem were then reduced to 13 men when a Salem man was shown a yellow card for a high tackle. The momentum was still firmly in Scarborough’s favour, and they extended their lead to 33-12 when Aaron Wilson offloaded for Govier to score his side’s fifth try of the afternoon. Salem then tried to rally late on and scored back-to-back converted tries. Between both tries, Jake Lyon was shown the games second red card for a tip tackle. With 8 minutes to go, the referee had his hands in his pocket again, this time showing a red card to Watisoni Radaubale for an altercation off the ball. Despite a flurry of late chances, the Scarborough defence held firm to round off an impressive win on the road.
West Hartlepool are the visitors to Silver Royd next Saturday in the First Round of the Papa John’s Community Cup.