Harrogate……………… 7
Sheffield Tigers….27
AN horror injury list forced Harrogate to field inexperienced players, all of whom showed great promise.
Having played against the wind in the first half, a 7-0 half-time lead looked promising, but they had lost playmaker Sam Fox to a groin injury and the Tigers' greater experience led to increasing dominance after the interval
Harrogate's set-piece play won a plentiful supply of ball and their driving mauls tested the Tigers' defence fully. As half-time approached, debutant flanker Will Seymour crashed over from a maul and Fox's touchline conversion gave Harrogate a 7-0 half-time lead.
The Tigers came more into play from the restart and two successive Mark Ireland penalties made it 7-6 after 48 minutes. Harrogate were coming under more pressure, but their defence held out well.
The Tigers took a quick penalty from a Harrogate scrum offence and substitute prop Sim Meek scored.
The next converted try, inevitably, came from Harrogate's record-holding try scorer, Jamie Broadley. .
Harrogate continued to counter, but lost possession from a crucial knock-on and Tigers mounted a counter which Robert Davidson scored from.
TEAMS
HARROGATE: Percival, Maycock, Baxter, Kitching, Brady, Seymour, Dodds, Coser, Wickham, Fox, Yates, Kennell, Cummins, Barnard, Parry.
Replacements: Dennis, Wurzal, Hyde, Irish, Tydeman.
SHEFFIELD TIGERS: Bennett, Anderson, Bingham, Rank, Fitzsimons, Scott, Hughes, Calladine, Floyd, Ireland, Down, Wager, Broadley, Davidson, Mellor.
Replacements: Meek, Townsend, Dawes, Newman, Church.
REFEREE: Nathan Howarth
ATTENDANCE: 200
Star man
Jamie Broadley – Sheffield Tigers
