South Wales Scorpions, missing a number of first team regulars, performed well for the first quarter of an hour against York City Knights but after that couldn’t match up to York’s pace as they suffered defeat in Featherstone on Friday May 22.
The match was switched to the Rovers’ ground after York were unable to secure a suitable venue in their city to host the game.
The Scorpions were unable to take advantage of an initial glut of possession and paid the price after York scored from their first major attack and carried on from there.
After only four minutes, Tom Morgan was stopped short of the line in the first tackle of a set and after pressuring the Knight’s line, Emanuelli’s chip was picked up by Tyler Craig on the final attempt, as it was again in the next set, but on that occasion, the Scorpions won a goal line drop-out.
The Welsh really were putting the pressure on York and forced a second goal line drop-out from their next completed set.
And after winning their third scrum, Scorpions again had the chance to score but Craig Lewis was pushed into touch as he was near the line.
Then when they finally got into the Scorpions half, York took the lead. Liam Cunningham and Lee Waterman were short of the line but a good passing move set up Greg Minikin to dive over. Ben Dent converted.
That got York going as they continued to cause damage with Castleford Tigers dual registration player Jordan Howden the instigator.
He combined well with Pat Smith for York’s second try on 22 minutes. Dent’s kick made the score 12-0.
From kick-off, another good move from the Knights increased their lead further as Minikin squirmed his way over for his second. Dent missed the kick.
And it was the Super League man who continued to cause the problems on his first appearance for York as he skilfully sold a dummy then opened a gap for sub Jack Pickles to run under the sticks. Dent easily converted.
The fifth try came on 33 minutes when a good set of passes set Dent up in the corner to put the score on 26-0.
And the sixth came just before the interval after Cunningham broke the line and offloaded to Waterman who scored from the wing. Dent’s conversion made the score 32-0 at the break.
Two minutes into the second half and Josh Tonks increased York’s lead with Dent converting. Tyler Craig was next over with Dent converting to make the score 44-0.
The 50 was brought up on 55 minutes after Brad Nicholson forced his way through after York won a penalty on the half-way line. Dent converted.
Following another penalty, York went over again as Ed Smith scored under the posts and Dent converted.
Casey Canterbury went over for his debut try for York on 65 minutes to make the score 60-0.
Applegarth fed Nicholson for the next try six minutes later that Dent converted. Minikin added another on 75 minutes to complete the scoring for the home side.
Scorpions could have taken two points twice in the last five minutes to prevent being nilled but chose to run the ball from both of their penalties, Curtis Davies the closest to the line.