'Complacency' and 'unforced errors' prove costly as Harrogate Pythons RUFC lose at Old Rishworthian RUFC
“Complacency” and “unforced errors” saw Harrogate Pythons RUFC lose a game they felt they should have won on Saturday afternoon.
The men from the Jim Saynor Ground were made to pay for a poor first-half showing as they suffered a 29-25 defeat at Old Rishworthian in Yorkshire One.
Trailing 18-6 at the interval, the hosts had much the better of the second period and finished strongly, only to run out of time.
And coach John Liley was left to rue what might have been after the final whistle.
“Complacency and unforced errors were the reasons for us not recording our second win of the season,” he said.
“Old Rishworthian frustrated us with their simple approach to the game, but all of their scores came from our own mistakes, so if we cut those out, then we will be finishing games victorious.
“The positive that we take from the defeat is that we were still in with a chance of winning the game at the end. With greater clarity and discipline with our finishing, we would have been looking at a different result.
“We also showed the correct attitude in never giving up and continuing to push for the victory, though in the end, we just gave ourselves too much to do.”
Trailing 15-0 just past the midway point of the first half after Rishworthian had scored a couple of tries inside the opening 20 minutes, Mikey Adams got the Pythons up and running with a penalty, then added another before the interval.
The visitors began the second half well and got themselves right back in the game when Hugh Tatlow crashed over after Harry Butler was stopped just short of the line from an attacking line-out.
Adams kicked the extras to make it 18-13, though a couple of penalties enabled Rishworthian to extend their lead to 24-13.
Undeterred, the Pythons came again and after Tatlow was tackled under the posts, Natsuki Barclay, Max Sharp and Harry Brayshaw combined to release Tom Roberts, who scored in the corner for 24-18.
Another try arrived for Rishworthian in the 75th minute and appeared to have settled matters, though ‘Gate were not done and set up a grandstand finish following another line-out gather by Marcus Fotherby.
Butler drove for the try-line, and although he was stopped just short, George Booth stripped the ball and powered across the whitewash for Adams to convert.
Trailing by just four points, the Pythons pushed hard during the last three minutes, but just couldn’t quite make it over for the try that would have won them the game.