YORK RUFC went down 39-22 at home to North One East promotion hopefuls Huddersfield YMCA.

Tries from Shane Goulding, Rob Hodges and Sam Elliot, with Liam Hessay adding two conversions and a penalty, saw the Clifton Park outfit put up a spirited fight but, ultimately, the fourth-placed visitors’ big, experienced and determined group of players prevailed.

For the hosts, Freddie Smith joined Lewis Hannibal and Goulding in the back row with Joe Maud, making his way back from injury, starting on the bench to make up a mobile and balanced quartet.

Chris Peace and Sam Forbes, meanwhile, provided some experience in the centres, while Will Scholey played alongside Dan Coe and Daz Rutherford in the front row

York retained possession from the kick-off and fly-half Hessay kicked an early penalty before Huddersfield had handled the ball.

But the West Yorkshire team hit back when powerful winger Tom Van Rooyen finished a two-on-one in space that the forwards had created. Gavin Stead missed the conversion.

Goulding went on to break two tackles and took the game in to the Huddersfield 22, but Rutherford subsequently suffered a serious hip injury and had to be stretchered off, being replaced by another ex-Colt Lewis Jackson.

Through a dominant scrum and consecutive penalties, YMCA then reversed the field position and scored, as hooker Ben Hill completed a powerful driving maul, with the conversion successful.

Another wave of YMCA running rugby then saw flanker Samuel Hodge release outside-centre Tom Clough to score, with another good conversion added.

Moments later, Hodge confidently used his pace again to beat Luke Stockton on the outside before passing to Van Rooyen to score his second try, with the wide conversion missed.

In response, strong carries from Scholey and Peace created forward momentum before Goulding handed off three tackles to score out towards the corner and Hessay added the extra points.

But Huddersfield continued to move York around when they had the ball and their number-eight Joshua Lumb made metres with a big run to allow winger William Burns-Smith to score.

Yet another conversion was missed, and York struck back when Goulding grabbed the ball out of an under-pressure home scrum on half-way.

Three accurate back-line passes, all in front of the receiving player at pace, consequently enabled winger Hodges to burn over the line and under the sticks, with a successful conversion making it 29-17 to the away team at half-time.

With his team still in the game, Maud came on to the field for York at half-time.

The Huddersfield scrum was still forcing the hosts back, though, with Lumb pushing his way over the line for another unconverted Huddersfield score.

York found more spirit with Smith carrying the ball twice within three home phases before Goulding distributed to the space in the back-line and Elliot, another ex-Colt making the transition to the first team, hit the ball at pace to score a lovely try.

For once, the conversion was missed, while Goulding and Maud also both broke tackles and ran in the open behind the away defence, but neither could release the final pass to reduce the differential to one score.

The York defence were matching the physicality of the Huddersfield attack and Gavin Stead missed two long penalty kicks, but the visitors’ centre was able to score a try to close the game out when he went over after gathering a loose ball.

His last kick, meanwhile, hit the post and bounced out.

York now face a tough trip to league leaders Morpeth this Saturday (3pm).

Meanwhile, Selby shocked Old Brodleians 15-12 in Yorkshire One to bolster their hopes of avoiding the drop. It was their second successive victory by that scoreline and they now sit 10th. They face a tough task at leaders Moortown this Saturday.