YORK RUFC staged a second-half fightback against promotion rivals West Leeds to secure a bonus-point draw and keep their play-off push alive.

Defeat against second-placed West Leeds would have been a major blow to York, who are still six points behind in third spot with only eight games to play.

Trailing 21-5 at the interval, they had a mountain to climb – but a late Shane Goulding try and a high-pressure conversion from George Davies completed the recovery and made the final score 24-24.

On a heavy pitch, West Leeds took the lead from a penalty with just two minutes gone. Some scrappy play, followed by yet another infringement, saw West Leeds edging further ahead at 6-0. York became their own worst enemy and an offside at the restart, followed by poor first-time tackling, allowed the hosts to score in the corner for 11-0.

As the first half progressed, York began to exert some territorial pressure and, after the home side was penalised for not rolling away, York pinned them into the corner where a good rolling maul saw Josh Parker drive over for an unconverted try to make it 11-5.

This resurgence was quickly snuffed out when, on the restart, York again knocked on and, from the subsequent scrum, West Leeds carved through the centre to score a converted try, making it 18-5.

Further self-inflicted damage followed with a clearance kick directly into touch and, from the scrum, a high-ish tackle right in front of the posts saw the home side extend their lead on half-time to 21-5.

The ‘fail to collect the restart’ disease affected the hosts and allowed York to move forward with intent.

A strong York break on the left saw some ‘professional obstruction’ leading to ‘handbags’ and West Leeds reduced to 14 men for ten minutes.

From the penalty, Neil McClure pinned West Leeds back and, after two rolling mauls had failed to reach the line, the home side broke up field.

However, York were now beginning to tick and they surged forward, kicked tactically, chased well, but again were obstructed. This time the reward was a converted penalty try to reach 21-12.

The game had turned and York now enjoyed a period of strong pressure. Tension began to grow – as demonstrated by a knock on two yards out which gave away a great position.

However, Leeds were now tiring and York’s scrum had begun to dominate. Shortly after totally disrupting the home scrummage, a further careless ‘on the ground’ incident resulted in a fairly simple penalty kick to the home side, making it 24-12.

It was now or never but York responded in the best way possible. Forced back, West Leeds conceded penalty after penalty and Toby Atkin eventually crashed over for an unconverted try and 24-17.

The one-way traffic continued and York levelled courtesy of a push-over try from Goulding which reflected the York scrum’s superiority. Davies held his nerve to convert and secure the draw.