York City Knights 68 Hemel Stags 6

Knights: Robson 8, Morrison 7, Egodo 6, Hey 8, Foggin-Johnston 9, C Robinson 9, Harris 9, A Robinson 9, Jubb 8, Siddons 8, Ed Smith 8, Batchelor 8, Horne 8. Subs (all used): P Smith 8, Dixon 8, Mallinder 7, Thompson 6.

Tries: Harris 3, 8, 20, 66; Siddons 12; Foggin-Johnston 15, 48, 54, 73; Batchelor 30, 64; Hey 69; Mallinder 77.

Conversions: C Robinson 3, 8, 12, 30, 64, 66, 69, 77.

Penalties: none.

Sent off: none.

Sin-binned: none.

Hemel: Elliott, Casey, Whitehead, Hanson, Forde, Lee, Fairhurst, Hawksworth, Burns, R Williams, Thornton, Fumhanda, A Williams. Subs (all used): Jowett, Crowther, Decaro, Barlow.

Try: R Williams 38.

Conversion: Fairhurst 38.

Penalties: none.

Sent off: Elliott 53.

Sin-binned: none.

Man of the match: Liam Harris – both half-backs excelled behind a dominant pack, creating space, finding gaps and making tries; the fact the in-form Harris scored four times too makes him impossible to overlook.

Referee: Greg Dolan (Dewsbury) – couple of questionable calls but generally okay in a relatively easy game to officiate.

Penalty count: 10-6

Half-time: 32-6

Weather: another warm day.

Attendance: 800 est

Moment of the match: Dee Foggin-Johnston’s run out of defence midway through the first half was something else. There were shades of Brett Turner’s memorable solo try at Rochdale last season as he cut through broken defence and weaved this way and that. Unlike with Turner, though, DFJ’s avenues eventually got cut off but he found a pass – basketball style – to send Liam Harris home for his hat-trick score.

Gaffe of the match: York would have wanted a clean sheet but two consecutive penalties, the second in front of their own sticks, proved costly as the Stags had the field position from which to get over, prop Reece Williams the scorer.

Gamebreaker: The game was over as a contest even before Liam Harris’ 17-minute hat-trick try inside the first quarter, Chris Siddons and Dee Foggin-Johnston having also scored by this point.

Match rating: The warm day made for good running rugby which was to York’s benefit given they needed a big score. Hemel dug in at times, with the Knights losing a little flow, but there was a period in the first half and then late in the second when James Ford’s men were clearly enjoying themselves, the backs being given space to play by the dominant pack effort.