Spirited Scarborough fight back to sink leaders Northern

Playing against a strong wind in the first half, Scarborough were immediately on the back foot after failing to claim the kick-off. Following a prolonged period of pressure, the home side broke through the Scarborough defence with a driving maul and crossed the line for a penalty try.

Skipper Sam Dawson was shown a yellow card. Despite being down to 14 men, the visitors responded well and levelled the game in the 14th minute.

Josh Coombs was shown a yellow card before Scarborough moved the ball into the hands of Kahu Craig Te-Ranga, who dived for the line to score.

The home side then began to turn the screw, scoring back-to-back tries to extend their advantage to 19-7 after the opening 30 minutes. After Drew Govier went close in the 31st minute, it wasn’t long before the visitors were back in the Northern 22.

They made their pressure count by scoring an unconverted try on the stroke of half-time, with Craig Te-Ranga receiving the ball from Rufus Pollard before crossing the line close to the corner.

The second half started in emphatic fashion for the visitors as they peppered the Northern line in search of a way back into the game.

In the 50th minute, Jordan Wakeham took a penalty quickly before offloading to Euan Govier, who scored directly under the posts. The experienced Tom Ratcliffe added the extras to level the game at 19-19.

Scarborough then took the lead in the 62nd minute as Wakeham turned in the tackle before reaching for the line to score.

Northern responded just three minutes later with a well-taken converted try of their own.

Ratcliffe was then called into action in the 73rd minute, kicking a penalty to give his side a narrow 29-26 lead.

Impressive game management from Ben Foden’s side saw them nullify the Northern attack and eventually force a knock-on to bring the game to an end.

Scarborough welcome Sandal to Silver Royd this weekend when they look to make it three consecutive league wins.