Report by Theo Bowyer

There was a debut for Dutchman Dirk Bruil as Port named a strong side to take on a York team that had matched Port’s league finishing position of 6th in North East One.
Port showed their early intent and after several phases, created a great chance from a line-out. The rolling maul was once again doing serious damage and an early score was achieved. 5-0 (conv. missed).
York responded with some possession of their own but failing to really penetrate, opted to kick a penalty to reduce the arrears. 5-3
The script was once again a predictable one as a short line-out ball, smoothly into a driving maul gave Bruil a debut try. The ever reliable was causing York all sorts of problems and they seemingly had no answer. 10-3 (conv. missed).
York were suffocating their own rhythm when coughing up needless penalties and Port were more than happy to feed off this. This combining with the penalty count from both sides being pretty high was making for a scrappy opening period.
Port’s defence was holding firm and held York out for minutes on their own line. In what had been a rather frustrating half of rugby for both teams the game was still up for grabs for either side.

The second half kicked off and Port were keen on increasing their lead. Still struggling for rhythm it was York who reduced the deficit with a penalty. 10-6.
The game was nip and tuck and you could feel the tension from the side-lines. The next score was going to prove crucial to the outcome of this one.
Port sensed this and went to Plan A, making sure they did the basics right. Kenzie Leach entered the fray and provided some precise kicks to touch to give Port quality field position.
Port were now dominant and looking to add a score to reward this. The pressure was mounting after countless phases, Si Green looking sure to score but the referee deemed the ball was held up. It would've been easy for Port to be totally frustrated at not adding to the scoreboard for what seemed close to an hour. But trusting the process, they finally got their reward for all their patience.
A pinpoint box kick from Alex Pantechis and a 50-22 was awarded. Port pounced on this bit of magic as from the driving maul a penalty try was called, with a yellow card for York. 17-6 and finally some breathing space in what had become a tense affair.
Symptomatic of the game though, Port couldn’t kick on and make the man advantage count. It was a case of sticking at it and taking what was on offer.
York weren't done and ran through Port’s midfield all too easily to give themselves a little glimmer of pulling of an unlikely victory. 17-13 (try conv).
There was still time for Port to add a little more gloss to the scoreline and after a brilliant turn over from the impact sub and club legend Tom Mantell, Port’s driving maul juggernaut was in destructive mode one last time with Paul McGookin the happy recipient.
Final score… Port 24 York 13.

Overall a solid start to Port’s Papa John’s Cup campaign. This coming Saturday we face Sandbach away who will be looking to bounce back from a surprisingly heavy defeat to Cleakheaton.