YORK RUFC junior coach John Atkin labelled the Under-14s' Yorkshire Cup victory as an "amazing achievement" for the club.

Just under 40 teams entered the junior competition last year, with York the remaining undefeated side after winning the final with Roundhegians 25-10.

York U14s had beaten Old Rishworthians (50-0), Old Brodleians (55-10), Hullensians (30-10), Sandal (24-10) and Sheffield (34-0) en route to the victory in the Cup's showpiece finale.

Atkin enthused: “This is an amazing achievement for the whole playing squad as well as the coaching team and the parents.

"We had a really nasty bug going through at least half of the boys last week, so preparation was not great.

"But the desire, determination and overall team work of this very talented group of players is outstanding.”

York made a strong start against their Leeds opponents and dominated possession for the first quarter of the match.

Dawson Spence crossed the whitewash for a well-taken deadlock-breaking try, however that was the only breach of a tough Roundhegians defence York could manage.

From the restart, York were again camped in the Roundhegians 22 although once again they came up against solid defence. Toby Atkin managed to keep the scoreboard ticking through a penalty goal.

Roundhegians managed to wrestle some possession from their restart and gained a penalty in the ruck, from which they kicked to the corner and scored from a well-managed maul.

With five minutes remaining in the first half, the Clifton Park club again went on the attack, with the forwards winning clean ball for a well-worked move through the backs which resulted in a selfless pass from Henry Wardman to put Toby Look over the line.

Roundhegians came back strongly after the break and scored again from a maul, leaving them trailing just 13-10, a tight scoreline that remained until the final 10 minutes.

Given their slim advantage, York sensibly opted to keep the ball in hands from a number of penalties before breaking out strongly through player-of-the-match Robert Cograve, whose metres forward eventually led to a second try for Spence.

York ensured that they would lift the Cup with one final try in the dying stages as, after some solid rucking, hooker Harry Savage went in at the corner.

York RUFC U14s squad: Sammy Jackson, Harry Savage, Levi Harrop, Will Aldersley Stephan Ford, Ben Walker, Ned Gilson-Fox, Zack Cumberland, Alex Jenkins(c), Tiarnan Stead, George Samms, Henry Roberts, Toby Atkin, Toby Look, Robert Cograve, Dawson Spence, Kris Norza, Will Tomlinson, Henry Wardman.