Hard Fought Five Pointer
By Mike Gapik
December 12 2006
It was a hard fought game and at the end of the day (what a cliché!) it the results that count and we managed to pick up another 5 points at home against a very determined Pertemp Bees.
It was Sparky (Richard Welding - Ed) who said after yesterday’s game that the Bees were the hardest side we have faced at home this season. They were a very well drilled defensive side and it showed as it took us into injury time to score our 3rd and 4th tries.
I won’t do a detailed report on the scoring sequences of the game and who scored as most of you were there and those that weren’t will have read the reports on the Official site http://www.yorkshiretoday.co.uk/ViewArticle2.aspx?SectionID=121&ArticleID=1923670
Its games like this that can determine who wins promotion to the Premiership. Yes you need to win against your promotion rivals but its teams like Bees that can cause an upset and where your promotion challenge can come unstuck as other teams sneak past you on the way to the top of the table.
The Bees fixture was always going to be a tricky fixture; more so coming on the back of some strong performances away to Exeter and London Welsh and the recent home wins against Coventry and latterly Newbury. Last week against Newbury we had bagged the bonus point with our 4th try scored in the 23rd minute, yet it took us nearly half a game against the Bees just to register our 1st try.
Listening to the usual South Stand regulars in the vicinity of the drums yesterday I couldn’t help have a wry smile to myself. Some of the play was indeed dire by our recent standards but we have no right to be scoring tries by the bucket load. There will be games much like yesterday where our form goes out the window and we have to dog out a victory. It might not be pretty, but it’s the W that matters and with 5 more points in the bag we have a have very hard Christmas and New Year fixture period, with our very next game a tough one away to the Pirates of Camborne (doesn’t have the same ring as Penzance, does it?!)
The official MoM went to Jonny Hepworth but honourable mentions must go to Kiernan Myall who had another very good game where his performance belies his age (20), and the back row trio of Dunbar, Shusterman and Oakley with the latter providing some strong direct driving runs in the loose, some great runs from the base of the scrum, gets my nod and several Tykesrugby regulars as the Man of the Match just shading both of his Backrow compatriots.