After two thrilling come from behind victories it was Hoppers turn to feel last minute anguish as a late Harrogate try gave them a share of the spoils. Both sides will leave happy after securing the try bonus point but will believe they should left with more.
With a strong breeze blowing across the ground both teams were happy to keep the ball in hand which provided a fast paced open game with plenty of quality attacking rugby on display.
It was Hoppers who got on the score sheet first through a well struck penalty by Mark Edwards and they soon stretched the lead with the games opening try, Hopper’s turn the ball over in midfield and quickly launched a counter attack, Dominic Moon’s strong serge through the middle allowed Darren Wilson to use his pace to cross in the corner. Edwards was successful with the conversion.
Harrogate answered back quickly with well worked set piece move, a 5m scrum was moved into midfield and James Broadley came in off the wing to collect a well timed pass and score by the posts. Michael Aspinall added the extras.
Hoppers extended their lead when Dominic Moon powered over from close range, the ball looked to have been turned over but Moon was quick at the breakdown and was rewarded with five points. Harrogate scored at the end of the half as they were able to stretch Hoppers defence across the field and use the numbers to their advantage with full back Edward Smithies crossing in the corner, Aspinall was again successful taking the sides in 15-14 at the break.
Harrogate started the second half brightly and were rewarded with a Sam Bottomley try, from a 40m scrum Ryan Peacey broke out and made good ground and when the ball got to Bottomley he broke a tackle and scored in the right corner.
Hoppers answered straight back with an Edwards’s penalty and once again had the lead when Tom Hughes broke a tackle and raced away from the covering defence to score.
It was then Harrogate’s turn to re-take the lead after taking a quick tap penalty inside the 22, they caught Hoppers off guard and a well timed pass that just avoided the would be interception and Bottomley strolled in for his second.
Dominic Moon was then shown a straight red card for a punch, but it only seemed to rally the home side who scored again when Wilson and Hughes combined well to set up James Williams who galloped in from 40 yards, but Hoppers were unable to hang on and Harrogate used their man advantage to stretch the field allowing Dench to score and when Aspinall stepped up and drilled home the conversion the referee brought an end to an riveting contest.
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