10:18am Monday 15th March 2010
By Peter Martini
AT half-time at Derwent Park, York City Knights’ entire season was in question.
At full-time, they were ruing missing the chance to enjoy one of the best comebacks in the club’s history.
In the end, they had to settle for a losing bonus point – an unsatisfactory return from the long journey to west Cumbria.
Beating the likes of London Skolars and Gateshead is one thing but, as some Knights players appeared not to realise, going away to a resurgent Workington is something else and the 32-22 defeat saw them fail to pass their first real test of 2010.
The manner of defeat, though, both killed and resurrected hopes of a promotion push, all in one afternoon.
Town scored 30 points before the Knights got on the scoreboard, at which point a play-off place never mind promotion was nothing but a pipedream.
But a piece of brilliance from Chris Thorman – who had struggled to influence the game as basic errors all around him saw his side overrun – got his side up and running, and whatever he said at half-time in his role as caretaker-coach continued that resurgence. Indeed, four tries without reply suggested York might be contenders after all.
Unfortunately, it was the first half, and errors with and without the ball, that proved decisive. Missed tackles, lethargy, handling errors and indiscipline all contributed to Town’s five-try lead.
The decision-makers had also forfeited a chance for two points to equalise at 2-2, only for Danny Hill to lose the ball in the first tackle. It seemed everyone’s mind was still somewhere on the A66.
Luck had played a part in the hosts’ first try, as a kick rebounded for Scott Kaighan to pounce and add the first of his four conversions to a sixth-minute penalty.
The rest were just bad defence, though, mostly on the back of errors in possession.
Thorman’s audible profanity telling his team to stop giving away penalties was still echoing when Jarrad Stack, on the back of a free kick, slipped woeful tackling to score the second, and further touchdowns came from Liam Finch, Darren King and Neil Frazer.
The Knights’ response midway through all this was to bring on big Brett Waller. But the Player of the Month’s performance summed up most of his team’s: he did several good things, being typically hard to put down, but he marred those with errors, including fumbles and penalties, and, in his case, an 80th-minute yellow card for backchat.
Don’t forget this was the Knights’ strongest side, having rotated players for Wednesday’s Northern Rail Cup win over London Skolars.
Prop Jon Fallon was one to keep his place, with Mark Applegarth switching to substitute second-row – Chris Clough unfortunate to make way. Fallon also did several good things, including a massive early hit on Kris Coward, but was far from error-free.
Coward and fellow prop Lee Dutton had passed fitness tests for Town, while hooker King was a surprise inclusion after injury, to bolster the front row. The dangerous Brett Carter was also fit to play at full-back, so the hosts had a stronger side out than that which capitulated against Featherstone in the Challenge Cup last week.
On paper, they still should not have been a match for the Knights. But matches aren’t won on paper and this one was already lost before Thorman’s wonderful run on half-time ended with a popped-up pass for Ratcliffe to touch down.
“Don’t say anything until we get into the changing rooms,” Thorman told his players as he led them down the tunnel.
Whatever was said made some amends for the garbage that had come before and at one point had York eyeing an unlikely victory.
Carter fumbled a McLocklan bomb and, from the scrum, Waterman’s signature move – stepping to his left and fending off defenders as he arced powerfully to the corner – got the half off to a good start.
Points machine Waterman got his second try five minutes later. McLocklan, who encapsulated the Knights’ improvement more than anyone after Paul Stamp’s arrival off the bench saw him move to loose-forward, dummied and ran the sixth tackle. Wayne Reittie took the pass on the burst and chipped inside for Waterman to score and add his second of three conversions.
McLocklan then breezed in, and the comeback looked on when Waterman crossed the whitewash after more quality from McLocklan – only to fumble when touching down a sitter of a hat-trick chance.
The Knights also foreited another opportunity for two points which would have narrowed the gap to 30-24, but Town did not, Kaighan unsuccessfully going for goal from 40 metres, before successfully goaling from 20 following Waller’s yellow card.
These kicks, and York’s forcing the play when needing to score with every set, effectively ran the clock down.
Workington: Carter, Backhouse, Beattie, Low, Frazer, L Finch, Kaighan, Dutton, King, Coward, Whitehead, Stack, Coupar.
Subs (all used): Marshall, McKenna, J Finch, McGoff.
Tries: Kaighan 14; Stack 17; L Finch 23; King 31; Frazer 36.
Conversions: Kaighan 14, 17, 23, 31.
Penalties: Kaighan 6, 80.
Sin-binned: None.
Knights: Ratcliffe 6, Reittie 6, Mitchell 5, Waterman 6, Lewis 7, Thorman 7, Bromilow 6, Fallon 6, McLocklan 7, Benson 6, Ross 6, Hill 6, Blakeway 6.
Subs (all used): Stamp 7, Applegarth 6, Waller 7, Freer 6.
Tries: Ratcliffe 40; Waterman 44, 49; McLocklan 58.
Conversions: Waterman 40, 49, 58.
Penalties: None.
Sin-binned: Waller 80.
Man of the match: Paul Stamp – his arrival at hooker coincided with the Knights’ fightback as he injected urgency at dummy-half and freed up Joe McLocklan to prove far more dangerous at loose-forward.
Referee: Matthew Kidd (Castleford) – not the best display, but did not overly influence proceedings.
Penalty count: 12-8.
Weather watch: pretty perfect for rugby league – spring is nearly here.
Half-time: 30-6.
Attendance: 466.
Moment of the match: Chris Thorman’s run and pass which gave Danny Ratcliffe his try.
Gaffe of the match: Lee Waterman’s miss, fumbling the ball when going to touch down a hat-trick. A converted try then, with 15 minutes to go, would have put the Knights two just points behind and on a roll.
Game-breaker: Either Waterman's miss, or the decision not to go for two points minutes later.
Match Rating: The cliched game of two halves. However, the quality of the second could not make amends for the paucity of the first.
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