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Photos: Zoe Bennell
UYRUFC 3rd XV produced a dominant display on Saturday afternoon to rout their red rose counterparts 40-0, denying their opponents even a sniff at the tryline.
Friday night’s main event at Huntington Stadium saw the 1st XV’s 57-14 victory greeted with a shower of confetti, and whilst there were no such extravagances back in the real world on 22 acres, there were none needed.
Nothing more than the scoreline was necessary to indicate that this had been a rout, and even that did not fully reflect how commanding a display York had put in.
The white rose played with great control and composure. Half-backs Calvin Williams and Tom Finnerty bossed the game in the backs, whilst the forwards were so dominant that Lancaster were unable to ever really get into the game.
The men in gold decimated the Lancaster scrum and stole every lineout. Props Sam Wright and Anthony Starling battered the red rose into submission whilst the back row of captain Giulio Schinaia, Santiago Parilli and Jamie Boyd were everywhere. It was their dominance in the lineout that left Lancaster fearful to kick to touch and eventually devoid of options.
It was the two props Starling and Wright who gave York their early advantage, both powering over inside the first half hour to give their side a comfortable half-time lead.
In the second period, however, the white rose really hit cruise control. Hugo Barennes, Harry Eastwood, Tom Hughes and Calvin Williams all went over, whilst Tom Finnerty’s boot was near faultless.
Lancaster had no reply. Aside from a few first-half forays into York’s 22 and a short period of pressure with five minutes to go, they never mounted an attack. Whilst Lancaster’s received a bombardment, the York tryline was never really threatened. Full-back Matt Stephenson didn’t even have to make a tackle.
It took just five minutes for Starling to drive York into the lead off the back of several phases of forward play deep inside the Lancaster 22. Finnerty’s conversion went over via the post to make it 7-0.
They kept up the pressure and 20 minutes later they doubled their lead. Lancaster’s forwards were unable to cope with the York pack, being pushed back and giving away penalty after penalty.
Eventually, Finnerty found Wright from a tap penalty and he crashed over the line.
Hooker John Treece came close to completing a perfect set of tries for the front row when he received a pop off the top of the lineout on the Lancaster five-metre line but was just forced into touch, before Jamie Boyd was held up over the tryline following another York tap penalty.
Lancaster survived until half-time, and would have been happy to go into the break just 14-0 down.
The men in gold resumed their control as soon as the whistle blew for the second half. Parilli, Boyd and Buchanan all made ground and a good interchange between Stephenson and Sacremento put them back inside the Lancaster 22 within five minutes.
They switched play to the left and Hugo Barennes found some space down the blind side, hurdling one tackler and shrugging off another to go over, Finnerty’s conversion making it 21-0.
10 minutes later and another front row player got his name on the scoresheet – this time, replacement prop Harry Eastwood.
Lancaster attempted to play their way out of their 22 but a loose pass was intercepted by Charlie Burton. He picked out Ramm who couldn’t find his way to the tryline, but after a series of phases at close quarters Eastwood drove over and Finnerty duly converted.
It was arguably the try of the game that took York’s score tally over 30 points.
Pariili took a perfect Treece lineout and the ball went through the backs to the left wing. The Lancaster defence was stretched and York took advantage of the overlap, Burton finding Tom |Hughes who finished well in the corner.
A rare conversion miss from Finnerty followed, but he had a far more simple effort to slot over just minutes later courtesy of an individual try from Calvin Williams.
The scrum-half broke through the line and executed a perfect chip and chase. The race against a wearied Lancaster forward proved as much as a contest as the game itself, and Williams collected and scored under the posts. Finnerty rounding off the scores at 40-0.
“It was a good game,” captain Schinaia told Vision. “We’ve been a core third team group throughout the season and we’ve had our ups and downs, but today was only about the ups.
“There was nothing more I could have asked for than a win for us and hopefully as whitewash for UYRUFC.”