Dan Scarbrough expecting more from Harrogate RUFC following opening-day defeat to Billingham RUFC
Dan Scarbrough says he is expecting a lot more from his Harrogate RUFC players in the coming weeks following their opening-day-of-the-season loss at Billingham.
The Aces, who secured an immediate bounce-back to National Two North when they were promoted as North One East champions at the end of 2023/24, kicked-off the new term with a 33-12 defeat on the road.
‘Gate travelled north missing a number of key players, and off the back of a pre-season campaign which their head coach described as “interesting”.
And Scarbrough has predicted that it will be a “few weeks” before his team begins firing on all cylinders.
"I think we are probably a bit behind the curve currently,” the former England international said. “It’s been, shall we say, an interesting pre-season trying to get up to speed and preparing ourselves for life back in National Two.
"Saturday’s game could have gone one of two ways, and to be honest, it went the way we probably expected it to. We are a little bit undercooked and we still need more time on the training field and that consistent commitment to training from the lads.
"I think that we are still a few weeks away from being able to serve up what I would call a polished performance. We are still building and we have got a bit of a selection problem at the moment with a lot of players currently unavailable.
"But, I am confident that we will get there. We have good ability in this group and it is just about continuing to work hard.”
Trailing 14-5 at half-time despite a Cam Edgar try, Harrogate were unable to turn things around after the break, with Josh Peace’s touchdown, converted by Oli Toomey, all they had to show for their efforts.
“Billingham are a good team,” Scarbrough added. “You look at the number of caps on that team-sheet and there is an awful lot of experience with guys who have played 200, 100 or 50 games.
"They’ve got a strong group, they looked like they knew each other’s games and they had the know-how to pick us apart at times on Saturday.
"There is a lot for us to work on, a lot that we can improve. We got into Billingham’s 22 on eight occasions without coming away with any points to show – so one thing that we need is to be more ruthless.
"But, there were some positive signs too. The forwards fronted up, the line-out was pretty successful and our scrum looked okay, so there are things that we can take away from the game that we are pleased about.”
‘Gate will aim to bounce back this weekend when they entertain derby rivals Wharfedale at Rudding Lane, though Scarbrough isn’t anticipating anything other than another huge test.
“Every game in this division is going to be difficult, but Wharfedale is a really tough ask,” he continued.
"We go in as underdogs, which is never a bad place to be, and we’ll try and upset them. It would be a big boost to come away with a result.
"There’s a lot to improve on from last week, we just need to try and make sure that we get the basics right, get our set-piece in order, build some forward momentum, and see how we go.
"It’s been so long since we played at home due to the issues with the pitch at the back end of last season, that it’s just exciting to have a game to look forward to on our own patch.”