Field find their form to push Gate aside

By ANDREW SMITH

Huddersfield….23pts

Harrogate………… 7pts

THE resurgence of Huddersfield has continued with a well-deserved threetry victory against Yorkshire rivals Harrogate.

In a tightly-contested first-half period, the sides went in at the break with one try apiece.

But it was the home side who took control after the restart.

Field have now claimed two Yorkshire scalps in the space of a week, and forwards coach Rob Anderson was quick to pour praise on his developing young side.

He said: “This has taken some time to build. We’ve got a young squad that are growing week on week, and they are putting in increasingly better performances.

“I’m very proud of what they achieved today.

“In the first half we didn’t start as we wanted to. At the break, we recognised we had to bring some tempo to the game and play smart in the right areas of the field. I felt we controlled the second half well.”

Anderson reflected on what was needed going forward. “We are starting to put markers down with the last two results. It’s a long old season and we must kick-on from here.”

The visitors took control from the kick-off and went close with a succession of driving mauls from the line-out.

Stout defence from Field kept them out, but a yellow card for the influential No.8 Eddie Brown proved too much.

All alone: Tom Hodson scores for Huddersfield

Gate opted for a scrum from a close-range penalty and were rewarded when Declan Thompson collected from the base to surge over.

Kit Keith made no mistake with the conversion to give his side a 7-0 advantage midway through the half.

The hosts began to assert themselves, and full-back Tom Hodson found a gap to ease over on the half-hour mark A Will Milner longrange penalty gave Field a narrow 8-7 lead on the stroke of half-time.

Gate spurned a number of chances to regain the lead before a spell of sustained pressure saw Milner add a second penalty on the hour.

With the home side out-muscling a tiring Harrogate, Kian Stewart lit up the game with a sublime break six minutes from time.

Picking up the ball on the halfway line, the wingman glided through the Gate defence and produced a neat offload for hooker Liam Stapley to cross with ease.

Milner added the extras to give the home side a 18- 7 advantage.

Lewis Workman rubbed salt into the wound with the last play of the game, stripping the ball out to cross unopposed wide on the right.

Harrogate Director of Rugby David Doherty admitted his Yorkshire rivals deserved the win.

“Really what cost us was our physicality. They had to run the ball and they went at it with real gusto and ran out worthy winners.”

Danger: Will Yates makes a break for Harrogate

PICTURES: WhiteRosePhotos