Harrogate RUFC not looking too far ahead despite closing gap on league leaders with win at Sandal RUFC

The Aces produced a devastating 20-minute spell of rugby away at Sandal on Saturday afternoon which saw them run in 35 unanswered points on their way to a 42-31 success.

And that result saw the division’s second-placed side gain further ground on their promotion rivals, with the gap between the teams now just six points after unbeaten Heath could only scrape past rock-bottom York.

But, ‘Gate director of rugby Jake Brady insists that he and his players are not worrying too much about how things stand at the top end of English rugby’s fifth tier.

“It's kind of out of our hands,” he told the Harrogate Advertiser. “This is a cliche, I know, but all we can do is take it one game at a time and keep trying to do what we have been doing of late, which is taking five points every time we go out on the pitch.

"Heath have got a healthy lead at the top of the table, because they have performed very well so far, but our focus can’t be on them and what they are doing – because we can’t control that.

“Of course, we do still have to play Heath at home, and I am confident about our chances of getting a result in that fixture if we perform to our best on the day. But, if Heath do manage to go unbeaten all season, or only lose to us, then they fully deserve to win this league and there will certainly be no complaints from me.

“But, we just need to focus on ourselves and on trying to get better. We have definitely made big strides since the start of the season, but I know that there is still plenty of room for improvement.

"As I keep saying, our biggest game of the season is always out next game and our approach is always trying to win it while making sure we score four or more tries.”

Harrogate fell behind early on at Sandal when Patrick Maher crossed for the home side, though they responded when in-form winger Amrit Sharma touched down in the 15th minute for Kristan Dobson to convert.

The hosts edged ahead again shortly before the interval as Mihali Joannou went over to hand them a 12-7 half-time advantage.

But, the early stages of the second period belonged entirely to ‘Gate. They were awarded a penalty try just two minutes after the resumption, and with Sandal down to 14 men following a yellow card, the visitors then took full control of proceedings.

Three tries in the space of 10 minutes followed, with replacement hooker Steve Maycock and number eight Will Hill getting their names on the score-sheet before full-back Dobson followed suit.

Dobson converted all three, then extended his 100 percent record from the kicking tee after winger Conor Miller finished off a sweeping attack to make it 42-12 just before the hour-mark.

Sandal did stage something of a late fightback, with Maher and Joannou (2) crossing again, but with their final try not arriving until the last minute of the match, the Aces were never in any real danger.

“We are pleased to take maximum points from the game,” Brady said of Saturday’s win. “Sandal fought hard and had us under pressure in the first half.

“There was a 20-minute period just after half-time when we executed and took our opportunities. That was enough to make the game ours.

"The pressure told, and a mounting penalty count resulted in a yellow card for Sandal. While they were down to 14, we did the damage.

“I was very pleased with our scrum and driving maul, which have been weapons for us all season and they again produced on Saturday.”

Harrogate return to North One East action this Saturday when they entertain Penrith.