W 40 - 31

By Dave Campbell

A whirlwind start for Scarborough saw the Silver Royd side run in four converted tries in twenty minutes to notch up their seventeenth bonus point of the season. And although they didn’t have everything their own way they went on to win 40-31 and retain second place in Yorkshire One.

The Leeds-based visitors had barely time to draw breath and found themselves 7-0 down in less than a minute when prop Nino Cutino powered through their defence from 30 meters before offloading to fellow prop Mikey Whitton on his shoulder to dive in for the opening try. Fly-half Tom Ratcliffe added the extras.

Three minutes later the Seasiders doubled their tally when Moortown hooker David O’Leary cleared the back of a lineout with a throw in his own 22 and Scarborough scrum-half Jordi Wakeham plucked the ball from the air to stroll over. Ratcliffe made it 14-0 with his kick.

Scarborough kept pressing and when a long pass from Harrison on the Moortown ten metre line bounced into the hands of Jimmy Perrett, the Aussie outside centre sprinted through a static visiting defence to score his side’s third try in the 15^th minute. Ratcliffe converted for 21-0.

And the ever-alert Wakeham notched up his second touchdown and a bonus-point for his side when he broke from the base of a scrum in the visitors’ 22 to cross in the 20^th minute. Once again Ratcliffe did the honours with his boot to make it 28-0.

Shocked into some sort of response the visitors turned on the pressure and Scarborough conceded several penalties; and from the field position gained, fly-half Chris Crossland executed a perfect cross-field kick and winger Tom Hutchinson won the aerial dual in-goal to take the catch and score a spectacular try in the 29^th minute.

The west Yorkshiremen continued to press and only a couple of shuddering tackles from Jonty Holloway, the smallest player on the paddock, kept the Scarborough line intact. However, as the home side took their collective foot off the gas and lost focus Crossland waltzed through the home defence to touch down in the 32^nd minute and added the conversion to reduce the arrears at 28-12.

However skipper Matty Jones’s men finished the half as they had started it by scoring a try; Wakeham again made a lightning break from the base of a scrum in the Moortown 22 before releasing Holloway on the blind-side wing to sprint over. Ratcliffe converted for a 35-12 half-time lead.

I don’t know if it was tiredness from their rapid-fire start to the game but the Seasiders seemed to lose focus in the third quarter and looked heavy footed and weary. It was therefore no surprise when Crossland ran in Moortown’s third try in the 46^th minute and added the conversion to cut the deficit to sixteen points at 35-19.

Buoyed by that early second half try the visitors strung some very watchable passages of play together and had they managed to score during that period the outcome of the game could well have been different.

However an inch-perfect box kick by Wakeham from a ruck just outside the Moortown 22 saw Harrison streak through, gather a kindly bounce and score the sweetest of tries with aplomb. Ratcliffe missed his first conversion of the afternoon but Scarborough led 40-19 in the 64^th minute.

The game seemed to be petering out but Scarborough’s lack of staying power and concentration was shown up when a couple of late tries, one converted, from scrum-half Kirk Arundale in the last three minutes, produced a somewhat flattering score-line for the visitors.

Not for the first time this season, Scarborough faded after a frenetic start and they looked tired in the second half when their set pieces fell away in quality. Maybe they mentally take their foot of the gas when they earn a bonus point early in the game. Moortown are a good side and what is more likely is the fact that they upped their game after a very sloppy start. Pick of the forwards was non-stop Kiwi hooker Sam Dawson, whilst behind the pack Wakeham, Holloway and Harry Domett excelled.

Scarborough

Tries: whitton, wakeham x 2, perrett, holloway, harrison

Conversions: ratcliffe x 5

Moortown

Tries: hutchinson, crosslands x 2, arundale

Conversions: crosslands 3

Teams

Scarborough: harrison holloway parker perrett domett ratcliffe wakeham whitton dawson cutino jones(c) oxtoby wilson d.govier martin
Substitutes: purdy e.govier marshall (all used)

Moortown: greenwood hutchinson moorby innes smith crossland arundale cross o’leary child wilcox patrick nwanazia farley muaiava
Substitutes: nixon shakeshaft travers

Scarborough News "Man of the Match": sam dawson and jordan wakeham

I could have named several players this week including Jonty Holloway and the indefatigable Aaron Wilson; however Sam and Jordi had a huge influence on the outcome of the game. Jordi was at his needle-sharp, quick thinking best and scored two signature cheeky tries and set up Jonty Holloway and Tom Harrison’s tries. Sam had an afternoon of non-stop action, carrying and tackling with commitment and confidence and getting his hands dirty at the breakdown.  Combined with his set piece duties it was an outstanding afternoon for the good natured Kiwi.