Harrogate RUFC junior sides complete stunning hat-trick of county silverware

Members of Harrogate RUFC’s under-14s side celebrate their Yorkshire Cup final victory over Hull Ionians. Picture: Submitted

Harrogate RUFC's junior section enjoyed a stunning weekend of success, with three separate age-group teams picking up silverware.

The Rudding Lane outfit's under-15s and under-14s were both crowned Yorkshire Cup champions, while 'Gate under-16s won the Yorkshire Plate.

"I'm not aware of this happening before in the club's history, it's a fantastic achievement," said Matthew Grant, Harrogate's junior chair.

"It's down to the efforts of the players themselves, the hard work of all their coaches and of course the parents, for getting these boys to training and matches each week.

Harrogate RUFC under-15s enjoy their Yorkshire Cup triumph.

"It's taken a lot of time and a lot of effort and they've all been playing really good rugby this season.

"As a group, the current under-16s have been performing for a long while now. They won an international tournament out in Portugal last season, so we knew they were quite good.

"The under-15s have surpassed all expectations and for the under-14s, this is their first season playing competitive fixtures, so they've done incredibly well."

Harrogate’s under-15s won 24-10 against Sandal at the home of Hull Ionians, while the under-14s beat Ionians 17-7 in their own Yorkshire Cup final, in a fixture played in Beverley.

Players from Harrogate RUFC under-16s' Yorkshire Plate-winning side.

Meanwhile, having lost to a last minute score in their Yorkshire Cup semi-final earlier this year, the under-16s dropped down into the Yorkshire Plate competition, where they beat Roundhegians 24-10 on their own turf.

"At every age-group, we have more than 30 kids per team and the club’s ethos is to try to get as many players on the pitch and playing minutes as we can,”

"It’s a real balancing act, juggling it all to make sure that all of the players get enough game-time and being successful at the same time.

"But that depth has also come in really useful because of the amount of county call-ups our boys have had.

"One weekend, we had five of our under-16s players in the Yorkshire academy team that beat Sale Sharks and Newcastle Falcons, another five playing for Yorkshire against Durham, while the rest of the team had a fixture against Yarnbury and still managed to beat them.

"Another Sunday, we had seven or eight boys from the under-15s with Yorkshire and still managed to put a side out that was able to beat Keighley, which is testament to the strength of our junior section.”