Sandal continue winning run in try fest against York

After 10 weeks without a home fixture Sandal made the most of their return, but were pushed to the finish by opponents they had lost to at Clifton Park in November by the odd point in stoppage time, writes Howard Newton.

The result was particularly satisfying after an exciting, but physical contest which produced some spectacular running rugby from both sides much appreciated by a sizeable crowd.

York made the early running and went ahead with a pushover try that was converted after nine minutes.

They were not ahead for long after a move that started in the 22 with a break by Jake Adams. It was taken on by Joey Allott and James Ellar who made some 50 metres on the wing before handing on to Luke Adams who finished off a superbly engineered try. Brother Jake Adams converted to tie the score at 7-7.

With 20 minutes on the clock Joey Allott broke through weak defence to touch down to make it 12-7.

The attacking game plan continued with Allott scoring again in the corner.

By now the Sandal backs were really showing their skills and after James Ellar made an initial break Jake Adams outpaced the opposition to score a bonus point try in the corner. This time his conversion was successful.

Sandal were producing rugby of the highest quality and three minutes later Will Henshaw was on hand to complete a superb passing movement and with Jake Adams converting the lead had progressed to 31-7.

York were not done, however, as they were awarded a penalty try had other ideas and attacked the Sandal line with a successful maul, which was judged to have been brought down short of the line resulting in a York penalty try and a yellow card for Jimmy Stewart.

With half-time approaching from the resumption the hosts were awarded a penalty to touch into York’s five-metre area. From the resulting line-out a maul was formed, enabling Austen Thompson to force his way over for an unconverted try which was quickly followed by a similar York score to take the interval tally to 36-19 in Sandal’s favour.

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An expectant home crowd was hoping for more of the same from Sandal, but this did not happen with the game turning into a game of two different halves.

From the second half kick-off a further yellow card was issued to Will Hodgkiss for a high tackle, reducing the side to 13 players. Immediately York added a converted try, but this was soon countered with a Jake Adams penalty, taking the score to 39-24.

At this point Sandal lost control and York took advantage with three unconverted tries all scored wide out in the 49th, 54th and 64th minutes to tie the score once again at 39-39.

Doubts were now creeping in as to whether Sandal could create further winning chances, but they did in the 75th minute when Tommy Allott broke free and gave Danny Groves the chance to throw a high looping pass to replacement winger Zak Burnside who caught a difficult ball and ran into space to coast over for a maiden try.

The home team then managed to defend this score for some seven minutes to register another well earned victory over a competitive and robust York outfit.

Sandal made it five straight wins, but face their toughest challenge of 2023 this Saturday travelling to play Regional One North East leaders Billingham.