Harrogate Festival

Harrogate Festival –

Pre trip morning nonsense.

As my alarm played some mysterious tune at 6.30 I wondered as to why I had decided that this would be a worthwhile activity. My eyes soon adjusted to the morning rays seeping through the gaps in the curtains though the rest of my body was having it’s usually fight with gravity and arthritis. Due to my boiler being even more knackered than me I had to sneak in tip toey fashion down the road to my mothers to have a shower which was hopefully going to wake me up properly. On the way to the door I shouted the rhetorical question which would need further repetition “Will, are you up?” Anyway there was no one in the street and the curtains didn’t twitch as I scampered across no man’s land to get to the safety of my mothers front door. I think I got away with it though I swear there was a crow laughing in the tree tops calling his mates to see the unusual site. Once inside everything became normal again. The beauty of having to have the shower at my mums is that she also made breakfast, some nice sausage sandwiches and a cup of tea. When I had showered I found that Will had joined us for breakfast but was also hoovering the car!!!? I think removing the mess he makes after training because we would be having passengers for a change. Without much further ado, because for once Will had sorted Will’s kit out the night before, we headed to the Duke on time. However as I reversed out of the drive the immortal words “you have got my boots haven’t you dad?” shot out from behind a kind of grimaced smile.” No, my favourite son, I assumed that when you said you had all your kit that you meant you had all your kit. Silly me what an idiot I must be.” Or something like that anyway. After a short further discussion on the possible whereabouts of the boots we headed to his mums to pick them up having collected the rest the previous evening. Despite all this we arrived on time at 7.30 at the Duke. As others arrived we sorted ourselves into cars filling them in the most environmentally positive style possible and off we set to Harrogate armed with a post code and Jim’s photographic memory of the AA road Atlas of Britain and possibly the world.

As I’m sure you all have similar pre-match mornings I’ll move on to Harrogate and the rugby. We arrived on time ready for our first match at 10. Well most of us did. The Hall’s with their keen knowledge of Yorkshire rugby clubs had yet again found themselves in the wrong place for we were playing at the local school just down the road from the main club. A couple of phone calls sorted the problem but a little too late for Alex to make the kick off. We were drawn in a pool with the hosts Harrogate, Old Brodleians and Northwich. Playing 10 minutes each way. There were to be lost points for yellow and red cards but it was agreed before battle commenced by the organisers that the refs wouldn’t in fact send folks off just ask for them to be replaced. We had travelled with a reduced squad of 17 losing both of our influential wingers one on Thursday and one first thing on Saturday morning. We still had a strong squad which would be tested to the full.

Matlock vs Old Brodleians

Old Brods kicked off into the 22 where Matlock in their usually languid, or is just poor starting, style took the ball but rather in effectively a couple of passes later had knocked on and given the impetus to the opposition. They attacked strongly from the scrum and again from the second phase with there amorphic forward spinning out of tackles over the line but was well held up by Stephenson. One or two had to be reminded to tackle legs. From the scrum Old BRods attacked the 10 channel where we were found wanting and were 5 points down with the drop kicked conversion from between the posts being missed. As so often the question was asked can Matlock sort themselves out and start to play as we all know they can. Certainly from the kick off the chase was determined and tackles were technically better and also more intense. This caused a turnover around half way and Matlock up hill into the wind kept the ball tight forcing ther way up the pitch with phase after phase. Thus showing good recycling skills and aggression. It was during this surge that the first controversy occurred as I was called on to the pitch re an incident which the ref hadn’t seen but heard and asked for one of our players to have a rest after being suspected of retaliating inappropriately. This enabled Hall to get on the pitch in the front row and Stephenson was moved to the back row. The replacement had little affect on Matlock who continued to force their way into the Brod’s 22 despite more fracas mainly caused by errant behaviour of the Brod’s team in biting and other unsporting acts.I was pleased how the Matlock lads didn’t back off from the challenge and actually pulled together more to stand up to the underhand tactics and were undoubtedly the winners of the battles and the war. Driven on by this desire the forwards drove a maul over from around 10 yards with Hamilton-Cody setting a new record of 2 or possibly 3 metres in distance for one of his tries. The 2 points were added and Matlock turned round at half time 7-5 in the lead. The second half began with an Old Brods foray into Matlock territory but after a turnover Clarke tactically used the slope and breeze to put tha ball just short of the Brodd’s line and a good chase by Wragg put their full back under pressure.From the ensuing line out Matlock drove at the defence but Brods were themselves resilient and further ram raids by the forwards were repelled but when the ball was moved out to the left with good passing especially by Doyle ( he can do it) and Wright put Walker clear to score in the corner with the conversion being missed. The rest of the game which seemed to last 30 not 10 minutes was played with both sides testing the others defences which both held out though Matlock were perhaps the nearest to scoring again. Anyway Matlock had won their first game by 12pts to 5 pts.

Matlock vs Harrogate

Having watched Harrogate comfortably beat Northwich during our 2 hour wait between games we realised that we would need to step up our own game especially defensively as Harrogate looked to attack wide through precise handling and strong running. Unfortunately our first encounter was negative with the ball being moved wide and unfortunately the winger unopposed strode over from the first attack by Harrogate. Matlock’s backs needed to get up quicker start from wider and stay with their man. This was a challenge for our new wingers with the usual pair at home. The Matlock forwards tried to get some momentum into the game but often ended up isolated or tried to force an unnecessary pass and gave possession back to Harrogate who ran in two more tries in the first half. This left Matlock looking a little forlorn and full of self doubt. Some positional rearrangement making our defence in the backs stronger and some stern words re not giving in and pulling up socks etc etc occurred at half time and Matlock went out to some encouraging shouts from the slowly sun burning supporters. They were a different side , much more robust especially in defence as tackles were now being made and the opposition were being felled as they should be. Matlock also managed to have some strong runs themselves especially Walker and Ellis in the backs and Stephenson, Wright and Savage in the forwards. Hartley having moved to fly half sured up the 10 channel and made some ground with typically determined runs. He even managed to survive the dumping he received as a result of a delayed and telegraphed hospital pass.
So during the second half Matlock re-established the fact that they can play rugby and are up for the battle and will and do tackle. Doyle continued to work hard in the backs and Hatton having moved from the back row to wing showed his flexibility again whilst Hamilton –Cody and Braund were putting in their usual 110% in the melees of ruck and maul. There were no scores and the game ended as the first at 21 pts to nil but with Matlock’s honoured somewhat rebuilt.

Research Period

With a further 2 hours to the next game we took on ourselves to do some research into local produce. We had a walk up to the main ground and found that indeed Black Sheep and Tetleys are just as nice , if not better ,nearer to their home as when travelled. Our southern shandy drinker also states that the Magners with Ice was also fine. However I liked the aghast look he received when ordering, such an unusual cocktail in these parts, from the Yorkshire bar maiden. Anyhow for the second order she gathered all her mates to witness such a strange ritual as though Lee was infact from a planet far far away.
Inn the meantime two members of the away team had spotted the last two proper meat and stuffing pies and refused to share the delights with anyone. Ant after much discussion of tactics and research of the rugby at the other grounds we returned with the knowledge that a win or draw in the final pool game would see us into a 3rd place play off.

Matlock vs Northwich

The teams ran out to the baying of the Brodleians who needed Matlock to lose to go through and were still unrepentant after having had their comeuppance earlier.Matlock did look more confident in themselves as they took to the pitch and though Northwich matched them in size we would find out if their rugby was up to the same standard. From the kick off Matlock put their opponents under pressure with some solid defence. Playing down hill with the wind at their backs seemed to instill even more confidence into Matlock as they soon worked the ball to Walker on the left who forced his way over to start the scoring. Matlock kept the pressure up and Northwich seemed to have no answer as wave after wave crashed on their defensive wall which again was soon breached by a marauding Savage for the second try. Matlock now really going for the big win continued their attack and Firth given some time in the centre was showing some elusivity which given his size is very useful. The next score came with Matlock enforcing their superiority in the forwards and Stephenson made it 3 tries and there was still time for a fourth try by Ellis as he ran strongly to score a deserved try near the posts giving Matlock a 28 pts to nil lead.A couple of changes were made at half time and though the passion remained because Northwich’s endeavour demanded it I felt that there was a touch of stepping off the pedal.
Both teams were unable to score in the second half and Matlock were through to play Wharfedale in the 3rd/4th playoff.

Matlock vs Wharfedale

Matlock were given just 10 minutes to rest and assemble themselves before kicking off to Wharfedale. By now after 3 tough games and no respite from a beating sun Matlock could be excused for being a little weary but that was to be no excuse. Wharfedale had lost closely to Leeds West Park in their group and would be no pushovers. In fact Wharfedale looked lively in the early exchanges and soon worked the ball to the left where an overlap situation was used perfectly putting the impressive No 8 clear at half way. He ran well outpacing the chasing Matlock fingertips of Wragg. From the kick off matlock managed to win the ball but under pressure knocked on around the Wharfs 22. From the scrum a dummy run blind by the 9 followed by another strong surge by the 8 at our 10 channel proved too much as they sped all the way to score a second try. Matlock needed to sure up the defence again and for most of the remainder did so leeping the opposition at bay. With there fair share of the ball Matlock tried to break a resolute defence but too often were again isolated or unsure of what to do. This is something that we must work on because at present we seem to look to rely on individuals rather than working an opportunity as a team. That said Matlock did still threaten and were unlucky not to score in the first half. Wharfdale seemingly put the match out of Matlock’s reach with a third try just before half time.It was perhaps a match too soon after the previous. In the second half playing up hill Matlock continued to make Wharfedale work hard in defence but without the usually power and pace on our wings we didn’t seem to have as many options as we would normally.Next was one of the champagne moments of the day as Walker broke away on the left deep into the opposition half well around the 10 anyway where he was eventually drag to earth by a scrambling defence. Hatton Marvelously was seen in support and first to the breakdown where he picked the ball up and raced for the far corner where the defence caught him but just too late as he got the ball down for a try to send the Matlock supporters home on a happy note.

Overall it was an enjoyable day, perhaps too much time between matches and would have better if based at the club rather than the school. The weather was great and so too the pies and ale. The rugby was challenging and mostly played fairly but hard. Apparently the ladies say that the shopping was good in Harrogate itself. I enjoyed playing different opposition to normal. It was also reinforcing to see that we are a match for even some of Yorkshire’s best it would be good to bring a full squad next year to see if we have improved any again and perhaps take home some medals.Maybe one or two of our other teams could make it up to a coach trip next year.

In summary we came 4th behind Harrogate, Leeds West Park and Wharfedale. Won 2 lost 2. 7 tries for 7 tries against.