BARLA Yorkshire Cup Final
Hunslet Club Parkside 32-0 Doncaster Toll Bar
Sunday 9 January 2022, Millennium Stadium, Post Office Road, Featherstone
Hunslet Club Parkside overcame plucky opponents in the BARLA Yorkshire Cup Final on Sunday afternoon at Featherstone Rovers’ Millennium Stadium. Parkside kicked off to their south Yorkshire opponents in the crisp winter sunshine – in total contrast to the previous weeks semi-final which was played out to non-stop rain.
The opening minutes were nip and tuck, both sides anxious not to give the opposition any advantage but it was Parkside who scored the opening try on 6 mins, scrum half Craig McShane picking up where he left off a week ago and settling early nerves by darting over out wide from the play the ball.
Mark Stubley drove over the line under the posts for the second score on 19’ following a Toll Bar effort which was disallowed by the referee. Connor Squires converted taking the score to 10 – 0 which was the score as the first half came to a conclusion, though not before the sin-binning of Parkside’s Ritchie Westwood.
The first ten minutes of the second half were crucial to the outcome of the game, Toll Bar having a second effort disallowed by the referee in the opening minutes, but it was Parkside who scored again when Stubley went over under the posts for his second try, again converted by Squires for 16-0. Two telling interventions from off-half Omar Alrawi lead to full back Dean Bowles going over for the next try on 53’, Squires adding the extras. Two further tries for Parkside went to centre Lewis MacMillan following good handling from Bowles and Westwood on 58’ and in the final moments of the game second row Harry Dodd scored a long range individual effort, which he converted himself for the 32-0 final score.
The win was the third BARLA Yorkshire Cup Final victory for Parkside, the previous two occasions coming in the 2011/12 and 2013/14 seasons. Seasoned campaigner Mark Stubley was today’s Player of the Match selected by the press on duty. Scoring a brace of tries today, Mark who has played in all three successful campaigns picked up the story after the game:
“Me, Wayne Foster and Ryan Campbell have played in all three of our Yorkshire Cup wins spanning ten years. Today’s game was a real collective effort. We’ve got a good mix of youth and experience running right through this team which is great for the future of the club”.
Coach Carl Briggs, a fourth link with the clubs previous wins as a player in 2011 and 2014 and in charge today thought his players were outstanding:
“After the terrible weather in last weeks semi-final the entire team from 1 to 17 did a terrific job against tough opposition this afternoon. A few nervous lads went out today appearing in their first major final and they all came through the test with flying colours!”
Echoing his coach’s words Skipper Elliot Morgan was proud of the way everyone approached the game:
“We had talked about how the opposition would take the game to us in the opening stages and how we needed to match them. We did that and once we’d weathered the storm we went on to play our game. Coming down the hill in the second half we were very good. We knew if we played our own game no one would beat us and that’s how it turned out.”
Teams:
Hunslet Club Parkside: Dean Bowles, Jack Broadhead, Bradley Wheeler, Lewis McMillan, Connor Squires, Omar Alrawi, Craig McShane, Jack Briggs, Samuel Bayley, Wayne Foster, Harry Dodd, Ryan Campbell, Elliot Morgan. Subs: Ritchie Westwood, Michael Waite, Danny Lidbury, Mark Stubley.
Tries: McShane, Stubley (2), Bowles, MacMillan, Dodd, Goals: Squires (3) Dodd.
Coaches: Carl Briggs and Andy Hullock
Doncaster Toll Bar: Nathan Brown, Luke Cade, Gaz Carey, Owen Wedgwood, Dom Riley, Mitch Garrity, Ben Howe, Will Maule, George Hill, Jake Jones, Joel Garrity, Ben Jones, Peter Green. Subs: Curtis Garrity, Rio Garrity, Tom Brandham, Jack Green.
Coach: Ian Tattersall
Referee: Dean Bowmer
This post was written by Phil Goodfield
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