Harrogate Pythons RUFC firmly on track for promotion following ninth consecutive win

Dan Bird’s team thrashed struggling Wibsey 53-0 on Saturday – the fourth game in a row in which they have scored in excess of half-a-century’s worth of points –a result which leaves them 14 points clear of third-placed Bramley Phoenix in second spot.

Although currently second-from-bottom of Yorkshire Three, Wibsey’s previous outing saw them beat Knottingley 31-0 and thus the Pythons’ head coach was left thoroughly satisfied by the comprehensive nature of his players’ victory.

Wibsey have always been a tough side”, Bird reflected.

“So, we knew we’d need to work hard. Uncontested scrums in the second half took away some of our advantage because we used our dominance up front to drain the opposition’s energy, which led to defensive gaps.

“But, we kept a clean-sheet and I was pleased to see the ball moved so well through the hands even in these bad conditions.

“We are now looking forward to playing Ossett next week.”

Wibsey kicked off on a cold, windy afternoon at the Jim Saynor Ground and Nino Cutino was quick to show the determination of the Pythons’ runners, taking his team into the away 22 with support from fellow prop Nathan Wake.

A knock-on at the breakdown handed the visitors a scrum, but they were driven backwards by a dominant home pack as Cutino and Wake took control before Hugh Tatlow touched down from number eight for 5-0 after eight minutes.

The lead was extended five minutes later following a goal-line drop-out by the visitors. Jed Carr returned the ball with support from Scott Irvine, forcing a scrum five metres out from which Tatlow was able to register his second try. Will Clough added the extras to make the score 12-0.

Things got even better for ‘Gate and the unstoppable Tatlow soon afterwards as he stole line-out ball powered over the whitewash from 10 metres out to complete his hat-trick inside 18 minutes.

From this point onwards, Wibsey began kicking the ball more often in an attempt to move into Python’s territory.

But, there was little they could do to stem the flow as quick line-out ball from the ever-alert Harry Parrish found Carr, who fed Max Sharp. He carried the move on to the halfway line then offloaded to Sam Beagrie, who outpaced the away defence and scored under the posts.

Clough kicked the extra two points, making the score 24-0 on 21 minutes.

A high tackle then brought a yellow card for a Wibsey man, Clough drilling the resulting penalty deep into visiting territory. From there, Jon Pickard secured the ball at the line-out, Clough fed Carr and Beagrie came inside off his wing to take possession and register another touchdown for 29-0.

The re-start was returned by Irvine and when he was brought to ground, Tatlow picked up from the ruck, broke through Wibsey’s defensive line and side-stepped the covering full-back to extend the home advantage even further.

There was still time for another score before the interval, Andy MacKay threading an inch-perfect kick through for Beagrie to speed on to and finish off for his own hat-trick.

With the Pythons 41-0 up and their dominant front row causing Wibsey all sorts of problems, it wasn’t long before the away side called for uncontested scrums.

This hindered ‘Gate slightly, but not enough to prevent MacKay finding Tatlow, who made a line-break once again before picking out Sharp, who beat the full-back and dived under the posts for 48-0.

A more even period of play followed, however the visitors were then reduced to 14 men when another high-tackle from the same offender saw him sent off before Cutino rounded off the scoring after wrestling the ball free and running clear to dive over the try-line.