Yorkshire demolish county’s dreams

May 19 2008 by Staff Copytaker, Liverpool Daily Post

LANCASHIRE’S hopes of reaching another County RU final were soon dispelled at Harrogate on Saturday, when a side who had to struggle to win both their previous games were soundly beaten by their Roses rivals.

Yorkshire used the wind to create an 18-0 advantage at the interval and despite conceding three second half tries, finally won by that same margin to earn a place against Devon in the county final at Twickenham.

In the end, they finished with a four-point advantage over Warwickshire, with Lancashire dropping into third place and Cheshire relegated.

“I don’t think we can complain because Yorkshire were clearly better than us and we are currently in the middle of rebuilding our county side,” Lancashire coach Mark Nelson said.

“Some of our boys have been quite promising but, overall, we are not quite strong enough at the moment, especially forward where we have been struggling throughout the competition to get good possession.”

Lancashire could hardly have made a worse start, playing into a gusty wind and conceding a try to the powerful Leeds centre Tom Rock after only two minutes.

Both flanker Dan Palmer and hooker Alex Loney suffered spells in the sin bin, while full back Steve Nutt missed a couple of difficult penalties, as Yorkshire built up an 18-0 interval lead with a second try from versatile Otley winger Robert Kitching, who also added a conversion and two penalties.

Lancashire did enjoy more of the play in the second half, claiming three tries through scrum half Craig Aikman, enterprising right winger Nicholas Royle, who switched flanks to good effect, and full-back Nutt.

However, Yorkshire matched that performance exactly, with further tries from the dynamic winger Rock, scrum half Dave McCormack and the final one from a pushover by the whole pack, that gave them the points to pip Warwickshire for a place at Twickenham.

It was significant that Yorkshire were able to field six players, plus a couple of subs, from Division Two champions Otley.