Sat 18 Sep 2021, 15:00
Captain Jake Brady praised his side’s character saying their belief in the process secured his side’s maiden national one victory.
The home side enjoyed much of the early pressure as Bishop’s Stortford struggled to deal with their intensity.
An early penalty drifted wide as the Tykes began to rue not turning their territory into points. Against the run of play with their first foray into the Tykes 22, the Hertfordshire side opened the scoring. Jacob Wrafter raced in unopposed after a series of offloads exploited gaps in the home defence. Dan Cole successfully added the conversion.
Two penalties from Charlie Venables narrowed the gap as both teams struggled to gain any real momentum. Several other chances for points were passed up by the Yorkshiremen, only for set piece errors to leave them pointless.
Cole once again made them pay with a simple penalty before Daniel Powell touched down in the corner to extend their lead. All this came with a man in the sin bin for the final stages of the first half. The teams went into the changing rooms with a half time score of 6 – 15.
The Tykes started the second half in a similar vein to the first, relentless pressure eventually told as Ben Dixon ran a fine line to catch the drift defence off guard. It was converted to reduce the deficit 13 – 15.
Quick thinking from Connor Lloyd paid dividends as he took a quick line out, exchanging passes with Xavier Valentine, sprinting down the touch line to score before the defensive line were set. Sandwiched between the two tries was a penalty, taking the score to 23 – 15.
Further ill-discipline followed as both sides lost men and to the sin bin. Not to be outdone, Bishop’s Stortford had a period of set piece dominance which was rewarded with a penalty try. Xavier Valentine saw yellow in the same incident. The home support became nervous as that took the visitors into the lead with five minutes remaining, 23 – 25.
The Tykes maintained their focus earning a penalty at the breakdown which Venables duly dispatched to nudge his side in front. A second try from Conor Lloyd sent the visitors home empty handed, final score 33 – 25.
Speaking after the game, the victorious captain said, “We are happy with the win, there is a lot for us to work on. At half-time we knew although the scoreboard was against us we’d had the lion share of possession. We knew that our superior fitness would prevail if we stuck to the game plan. It feels good to get our first win as a group this season.”
Photo courtesy of John Ashton - check out our matchday gallery from John's photos.
