Saturday, September 6, 2025, 2pm at Harrogate
Harrogate 35 – Middlesbrough 26.
Regional 1 – North East. First Game of the season
Middlesbrough travelled down to the Apollo Capital Stadium to take on Harrogate for the opening fixture in the Level 5 Regional 1 North East. This was always going to be a tough test with Middlesbrough missing some key players through injury and pitting themselves against opponents who were playing in Level 4 of the RFU pyramid last season.
The first few minutes saw a series of great defensive sets from Boro as the home side piled on the pressure, but eventually Harrogate committed a couple of penalties including crossing right on the Middlesbrough try line, allowing Ste Jones to clear the danger. Boro won the ensuing line out and produced some magnificent open running play. Beautiful hands eventually resulted in the ball being spun out to try machine Brendan Hill, who raced around his defender to score near the posts. Hill converted his try to give Boro a 7-0 lead.
Harrogate came back strong, looking very dangerous with line out and driving maul play. They sent the ball wide and an impressive weaving run from their nippy winger, Amrit Sharma, ultimately resulted in a penalty to Boro for holding on. Harrogate roared straight back and a series of penalties took Harrogate into the Boro 22. Ultimately repelled.
Superb running again from Jack McPhillips gave that little bit of extra space for Steve Jones to clear the lines. However, Harrogate came back again with some flowing attacking moves going from side to side and eventually left wing Mackenzie Scurr rounded the corner to score under the posts. Full back Rory Mcnab15 converted to level it up 7-7.
Boro would not lie down. They were straight back on the attack. Superb build up pressure play eventually saw Brendan Hill burst through under the posts. By slotting his conversion Brendan took Boro back into the least at 7-14.
Harrogate, roused by their home support, brought the game back to the Boro. They attacked again with some expansive play, Boro again defended well but eventually conceded a penalty which was kicked to the corner, and, following a driving maul, the big Harrogate pack were rewarded for their effort with a converted try in the corner. 14-14.
The game then became stuck in a stalemate with both sides attacking hard but giving up penalties and trading territory with clearance kicks. The ref then awarded three penalties in a row and Harrogate used this advantage, and their forwards power, to bundle over the whitewash for another converted try and take the lead. 21-14 at half time.
The second half started with both sides playing open running rugby. Boro attacked with pace and direct running and were camped in the home team’s redzone but an incredibly resilient defence on their own line allowed Harrogate to clear. Boro stole the resulting lineout and reapplied the pressure. But Harrogate defended well and then launched an offensive of their own. Moving the ball well, they won a line out five metres out. After a few phases of possession on the Boro line, Harrogate extend their lead to another seven pointer. 28-14.
On the hour mark Boro won good ball and skipper Jack McPhillips (who was brilliant all day) made another trademark burst through the gain line only to be thwarted by more stout defending. Following another period of intense pressure, Harrogate spun the ball wide to their no, 14 Amrit Sharma. His intricate run jinked him through the Boro defence to score in the corner Scurr’s fantastic conversion made the score 35-14.
Boro were not done yet… an incredible length of the pitch counterattack saw some brilliant interchange of passing between Hill and Rob Carney. The ball made its way to fly half Ste Jones who placed a gorgeous cross field kick over to the opposite corner, collected by Te’Kori Moore to score. The conversion just pushed wide left the score at 35-19.
After such an upbeat, hard-fought and adventurous start to the season, both teams were tiring and you could feel the Harrogate team and supporters felt they had done enough. But Boro had different ideas. The boys in maroon continued to play great rugby with ball in hand and continued to press into the Harrogate 22. On the attack and pressing for the line, Ste Jones made a sumptuous delayed pass to Jack McPhillips, who capped his day with an impressive bonus point try near the posts. Brendan Hill slotted the conversion to bring the Boro within nine points at 35-26.
A little bit of chat saw Harrogate’s number 16 Jack Cook sit out the rest of the game in the Bin. With just a few minutes left Harrogate attacked well but tremendous Boro pressure made them opt for an 80th and 83rd minute penalty pops at goal. They missed them both. Then in a last-ditch attempt, the Boro attacked from deep but good Harrogate defence forced a knock on at the final white.
Full time: 35-26.
Well done all for a fantastic game. Boro’s try bonus point sees them sitting in 7th place in the league at this very early stage.
Special acknowledgement to Joe Sawden on his 100th 1st XV appearance
