Scarborough RUFC slip to 24-7 home defeat against Morley

Joel Little scored Scarborough RUFC's only try in the defeat against Morley RFC

On a windy afternoon at Silver Royd, it was the visiting side who started on the front foot but struggled to find a way through a strong Scarborough defence, writes Charlie Hopper.

Scrum-half Noah Hawkins had an early opportunity to put his side ahead, but his straightforward conversion sailed wide of the posts.

The Maroons then took the lead in the 13th minute courtesy of Jamie Silkstone.

The centre running a great line and breaking through the defence to score under the posts for 7-0.

Scarborough looked to have responded with a try of their own in the 21st minute but as Vytautas Mudingis went through to score but the referee penalised his side for an infringement.

Scarborough continued to ask questions of the Morley defence, but handling errors proved costly and found themselves trailing at the break.

The second half started in the worst possible fashion for Matty Jones’ side after they found themselves 14-0 down in the 47th minute.

Full-back Theo Tyrer collecting the ball and running under the posts to score.

It went from bad to worse, as the Maroons ran in their third try of the afternoon. Ed Kelly going over in the corner with the conversions missed by Hawkins.

Scarborough were then reduced to 13 men in the 63rd minute.

First Jordan Holloway was shown a yellow card then Alex Rowley received a very harsh red card.

Morley added a fourth try to their tally just three minutes later with Mickey Ryan scoring an easy try in the corner. Once again, the conversion sailed wide for 24-0.

Mudingis looked to have scored his side’s first try, reaching and putting the ball down on the line, but the referee decided that it had been held up. Try scorer Tyrer ended his match in the sin bin after committing a penalty at the break down.

The final scoring action of the match came in the form of a try from Joel Little, he weaved through the tackles to score directly under the posts for 24-7. Jones’ side went close again late on but couldn’t pierce Morley’s defence.

Scarborough welcome rivals Bridlington on Saturday for their final home game of the 2022/23 season.