Key Scarborough RUFC players return for cup semi-final

Mikey Readman in action for Scarborough during their quarter-final win against Blackburn

Leading Midlands 2 North (west) with an unbeaten record, Bridgnorth will travel north east in confident mood for this game.

Scoring an average of over 40 points per game they have taken their league by storm and will expect a straightforward win tomorrow.

However over the years the national cups has been in existence it has been proved beyond doubt that the Yorkshire leagues are some of the strongest in the country at level seven.

Testament to this is the disproportionate number of Yorkshire sides which have either won or made the finals of the junior and senior Vases and the Intermediate Cup.

Scarborough one again have had a maddeningly inconsistent season in the league but have done well in the cup and apart from a long-term injury to fly-half Tomasz Chadwick should be at full-strength tomorrow.

Paul Taylor, Harry Domett, Tom Harrison and Eamon Chapman all return to action having missed last week’s abandoned game at Pontefract.

Other good news for the Scarborough faithful are the return of long-term injury victim Phil Watson and the dynamic Corey Dennis who has been struggling with a hamstring injury.

Youngster James Leach, who has really impressed since moving up to senior rugby, is also in the squad and joins outstanding ex-junior colts Jordi Wakeham and Hayden Ogilvie, who have been regular first-teamers this season.

Tomorrow is also a special day for Matty Else, who is the only survivor of the side which were beaten at Billericay in the semi-final of the Tetley Bitter Vase in 1999 to play in this year’s semi.

The big dairy farmer has been an ever-present in the Scarborough line-up for many years and nothing would please me more than to see him run out at Twickenham in May.

Of course Scarborough CEO Graham Young also played in that game and his work off the pitch has seen the club progress to where they are today.

Oh yes, and the joker in the pack Martin Robinson played at Twickenham two years ago in the same competition, so he can impart his recollections of playing at HQ to his teammates.

As always in this competition when it gets to this stage, the protagonists don’t know what to expect of each other which always makes the National semis so intriguing.

It’s going to be a great afternoon watched by hopefully a four-figure crowd and I sincerely hope our visitors from the Black Country, where I spent some of my teenage years, come away from Scarborough (town and club) suitably impressed by their experience.