For the last four years Lancaster’s rugby thirds have been finished off with ease by their York counterparts. However, this year saw history be rewritten as Lancaster ran rampant with a 42-13 win, showing York that this year, the rugby club meant business.
Two tries bundled over by Jonathan Preston, helped by tries elsewhere from Paddy Boyers, James Gamble, Arron Waggoner and substitute scrum-half Jamie Griffiths, were more than enough to seal a fine win for the rugby thirds, which gave Lancaster University Rugby Club the perfect start to the weekend.
The game started, as it would continue for the majority of the match, with Lancaster dominating the scrum. The thirds really did give York something to think about, with their scrum gaining invaluable territory into York’s half on countless occasions allowing Lancaster to create attacking opportunities with real promise. Noticeably Lancaster had worked on playing a quick ball brand of rugby which provided a great spectacle, shown well by a flurry of tries in both halves of the game.
Lancaster’s number 8, Preston, proved to be a thorn in York’s side on multiple occasions, driving powerfully through York’s defence to devastating effect. Preston was at the centre of many of Lancaster’s best moments, being involved in Boyers’ try as well as two of his own.
York never managed to gain any momentum throughout the 80 minutes of action, when they did score there would be a near instant reply from Lancaster, preventing York from getting back into the game. Their only real chance came at the start of the second half as try scorer Boyers was sin binned for a high tackle, leaving Lancaster a man down for the opening exchanges. They coped well with his brief dismissal and were able to see the game out comfortably.
All six tries were expertly converted by number 10 Jack Jones who seemingly had a great influence throughout the match and coped well with the nerves of his first Roses, showing great composure. His kicking game soaked up the teams defensive duties, giving them vital yardage up the pitch at the right times. Jones is perhaps one for the future at the rugby club, currently a fresher, it wouldn’t surprise me to see him start for the firsts or seconds in years to come.
The final try compounded York’s misery as a scrum on their own try line was passed back, only to be kicked over their own posts, which in turn was caught and grounded by Griffiths.
Speaking to captain Gregory Mornin after the game, he told SCAN “I’m over the moon for the entire club. We’ve put in a load of effort throughout the year. Having had a difficult start to our season we gathered real momentum to have a strong finish with nine wins in our final 11 games. The win at Roses was massive for our team with 8 boys playing in their final ever Roses match.”
