On the final match day of 2023 which took place on December 16th four County derbies took place and we begin with the fixture between Hull Ionians and Hull RUFC at Brantingham Park, where both sides were looking to put a stop to losing runs following several defeats. The honours went to Hull after a game which saw them take an interval lead of 10-8 before finally winning the game by 23-18 in front of 675 spectators.
The game was no classic with both sides only scoring two tries each, but it will long be remembered for the dramatic end to it. As the game went into the final minute with Ionians holding an 18-16 lead Hull forced a line-out inside the home 22 metre area on their left wing. The ball was taken by Hull prop Charlie Beech who made several yards and from the resultant ruck the ball was passed through eight pairs of hands with winger David Davidson taking the final pass to touch down in the right-hand corner. Just for good measure Reece Dean converted from the touch-line to add to his first conversion and three penalty goals and the game was over. Dean was awarded the Man-of-the-Match tribute for an outstanding display throughout the game. Hull’s three-match losing run was over but the Ionians six match losing run continues.
The second derby saw Sheffield Tigers cross over the road to their neighbours Sheffield RUFC in a game the home side won by 33-24 after leading 21-10 at the interval. They scored five tries to the Tigers three with scrum-half Elliot Fisher converting four of them. The game was well-contested between two very physical packs of forwards with the Man-0f-the-Match Reece Bartlett, the Sheffield hooker, being pushed over the line for two tries during the first half.
Rotherham Titans v Wharfedale saw 2nd and 3rd clash at Clifton Lane where a very close first half ended with the Dalesman holding a very narrow 7-3 lead. The second period belonged to the Titans who ran in five tries. Only two were converted by the Man-of-the Match Lloyd Hayes who also landed 3 penalty goals. This defeat resulted in Wharfedale dropping to 4th in the table to be replaced by Sheffield RUFC.
The final County game was at Cross Green where Otley faced league leaders Leeds Tykes who were in rampant form as they built up a half-time lead of 26-5 before finally winning by 47-17. The Tykes ran in seven tries to Otley’s three and five of these were converted. The Tykes winger Jacob Mounsey took the Man-of-the-Match award.
In a very entertaining match at Fylde’s Woodlands Ground Preston Grasshoppers shook the 1220 attendance by taking a 17-0 lead in the first sixteen minutes. Fylde hit back strongly to make the half-time score 17-12 before taking the full points with a narrow 33-27 victory. They scored five tries to the Hoppers three with Ben Gregory, the Division’s top try scorer getting three of them to take his total for the season to 15. The Hoppers gave a very good show of themselves with Fylde only taking the winning lead with ten minutes remaining and the visitors fully deserved the losing bonus point.
Huddersfield came very close to posting their second win of the season in a very closely-fought contest with Lymm at Lockwood Park. The sides were level; at 17-17 at the break and with nine minutes to play Huddersfield were leading by 24-23. However a superb 60-metre try from Lymm’s Stephen Pilkington was converted by Tom Shard, who added a penalty goal shortly afterwards, which robbed Hudds of a losing bonus point. Both sides scored three tries and Tom Shard was voted the Man-of-the-Match.
Finally, the Division’s two North-East clubs met at Tynedale’s Station Road ground where Billingham were the visitors. A very even game saw Tyne leading 12-5 at the interval but they went on to score four tries to Billingham’s two to take the full five points. Man-of-the-Match was Tyne’s flanker Will Nankivell.
All these results show that Leeds Tykes are top of the table on 64 points, Rotherham Titans are second on 58 and Sheffield are third on 45. There is no change in the nether regions with Billingham 12th on 22, Hull Ionians 13th also on 22 and Huddersfield on 7 at the bottom.
Fixtures will resume on January 6th for all the matches postponed on December 2nd after heavy rain and storms cancelled six of the seven games in N2N. A full scheduled fixture list resumes on January 13th.
In the meantime, may I wish all rugby followers in N2N a Very Happy Christmas and New Year?
Ferensian.
HULL RUGBY UNION FOOTBALL CLUB 