Caldy rugby

IT was just one penalty, but the three points from Gavin Roberts’s boot made all the difference for Caldy in a match where an incredible 85 points were scored in all.

What is even more incredible is that midway through the second half, Caldy were 25 points behind – only for their fighting spirit to somehow get them past the winning post.

The game started innocuously as Roberts opened the scoring with a penalty before Harrogate’s Mike Aspinall scooted over for a try, which he converted. Caldy hit back after 18 minutes when Andrew Soutar and John Broxson exchanged passes, with the latter eventually finding Mark Turner, who scored a well-worked try. Roberts converted to make it 10-7.

The first half was proving to be a ding-dong battle as on 26 minutes a handling error led to the ball being hacked through by Aspinall.

A nasty bobble wrong-footed Liam Devaney to the benefit of Nick Wainwright, the Harrogate centre, who scored the try. Again this was converted by Aspinall.

At the end of the first half Caldy were awarded another penalty when Edward Spackman was penalised for killing the ball and Roberts kicked made it 14-13.