Harrogate Pythons RUFC 'will learn' from defeat to Wath Upon Dearne RUFC in first-ever cup final

The men from the Jim Saynor Ground were beaten by a formidable Wath Upon Dearne team in the final of the Yorkshire Shield, which was played at the home of Hudderfield Laund Hill RUFC.

Having never reached a showpiece event of this significance before, the Yorkshire One outfit acquitted themselves well against the league champions, and were trailing by just a single point with 55 minutes on the clock.

But, Wath produced an extremely strong finish to proceedings, running in three unanswered tries to win the match 41-17 in the end.

Director of rugby was however more than satisfied with his team’s performance on the day, and their efforts this season overall, which has been their most successful as a Yorkshire One club.

“Naturally, we’re disappointed not to come away with the result,” he said. “But, massive credit has to go to the players for the effort they put in and the way they represented the club.

“We came up against a very good Wath side, who have now completed a remarkable season with three trophies.

“For us, this was our first major final as a club and that’s a huge milestone in itself.

“We competed, we fought for each other and showed exactly what Harrogate Pythons are about.

“We will learn from the experience and use this to drive ourselves forward into the 2026/27 season.”

Things did not begin too well for the Pythons, who lost flanker Will Milnes inside the first five minutes, limiting their line-out options for the remainder of the contest.

And they found themselves 15-0 down before eventually getting up and running themselves shortly before half-time.

Hugh Tatlow secured line-out ball and found Natsuki Barclay, playing his last game for the club.

The ‘Gate scrum-half fed fly-half Harry Jackson, whose slick offload released full-back Max Sharp to round the last Wath defender and score under the posts.

Ben Pryor added the conversion, making the score 15-7 at the interval.

With Wath down to 14 men following a deliberate knock-on, the Pythons capitalised on their strong start to the second period by adding another try.

Number eight Tatlow again rose to gather the ball at a line-out, enabling flanker Sam Rowntree to feed Pete Millward, who was pulled down just five metres short.

But, Rowntree was on hand to seize possession and power over next to the posts for Pryor to convert.

That score made it 15-14, however Wath responded well and crossed for the fourth time to move into a 22-14 lead.

Centre Pryor booted over a penalty to keep the Pythons in touch at 22-17, but the South Yorkshiremen then went up through the gears during the closing stages and pulled well clear.