Harrogate Pythons RUFC dominate promotion rivals Castleford RUFC

Saturday's 49-19 success saw Dan Bird's men record an 11th win on the bounce and moved them 20 points clear of their opponents, who sit fourth in the table.

More importantly, it means that 'Gate remain nine clear of third-placed Bramley, their main rivals for the division's runners-up spot.

The Rugby Football Union's restructuring of the leagues for the 2022/23 season means that it remains to be seen whether finishing the current campaign in second position will definitely be enough to secure a spot in Yorkshire Two next term, though the Pythons are hopeful that this will be the case.

And they approached their most recent outing determined to leave nothing to chance, once again making a fast start and getting their noses in front early on.

With just two minutes on the clock, quick ball off the top of a line-out from Calum Brock enabled Will Clough to get Scott Irvine into the game, breaking tackles and advancing into the Castleford 22.

Possession was quickly re-cycled and Max Sharp put James Audsley-Beck in at the corner before Clough added the extras for 7-0.

The visitors kept hold of the ball from the re-start, however an infringement at the breakdown saw 'Gate awarded a penalty and Carr cleared to the away 10-metre line where Hugh Tatlow won the resulting line-out and powered over. Clough's conversion took the score to 14-0 on 10 minutes.

Castleford then began to enjoy a spell on top, showing why they are fourth in the league, though a forward pass led to a scum, from which Clough made ground before feeding Carr, who jinked through a gap and offloaded to the supporting Will Smith, who dived over the whitewash.

From the kick-off, Will Butler carried the ball back into the Castleford half where Adam Challis was first to the breakdown and advanced the play into the 22. The away team were then penalised at the breakdown and Clough slotted over his kick at goal to extend the home advantage to 24-0 on 18 minutes.

Clough added another penalty shortly afterwards before the West Yorkshiremen got themselves on the front foot and forced the likes of Jordan Payne and Nathan Wake to do some defending close to their own line.

With Castleford unable to find a way through, Irvine stripped the ball and Carr relieved the pressure with a huge kick to halfway. Moments later, Tatlow pouched another line-out throw and again broke through the away defence to register his second try of the afternoon.

As half-time approached, Steve Lennox made good ground before Irvine continued the hard running, setting the ball up for Clough to feed Wake, who put Will Smith in the clear to stretch the lead to 37 points at the interval.

With a strong wind now at their backs, Castleford began the second period with some determined running, though they again failed to breach a resolute Harrogate defence.

Frustration followed and the referee needed to deal with some inevitable unpleasantness with a long lecture before the Pythons went down the other end and made it 44-0.

From an attacking scrum on the Cas five-metre-line, Clough got the ball to Irvine, who was tackled but stayed on his feet to muscle over under the posts. Clough then added the extra two points.

A quickly-taken penalty following the re-start finally saw the visitors grab their first score of the match, though normal service was soon resumed.

Clough passed to Sharp, who found Parrish, who glided through the defence before passing to Audsley-Beck, who placed an inch-perfect kick ahead for Sharp to run onto and finish.

'Gate's try-scorer converted his own try to move the score along to 49-5 in the 65th minute.

To their credit, Castleford kept the pressure on despite the scoreline and with 10 minutes left, they added another try to reduce the deficit slightly at 49-12.

Some indiscipline in the home defence then gifted the visitors successive penalties and after working the phases, their outside centre carved through a gap to score in the corner. The Pythons travel to Halifax Vandals next week for a ‘must win’ fixture.

The Whittaker’s Gin Man of the Match award went to Scott Irvine.

Next up for the Pythons is a trip to ninth-placed Halifax Vandals this Saturday.