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COLTS TRIUMPHANT! The Full Story of York RUFC’s Victory In The Yorkshire Bowl UP AND UNDER <RXU 'H¿QLWLYH *XLGH WR <RUN 58)& ([/HHGV &HQWUH 6LJQV )RU York- )XOO 6WRU\ ,QVLGH Help For Heroes Tournament at 2 5LÀHV LQ %DOO\NLQOHU <RUN ,QYLWHG 7R 3OD\ ,Q 3UHVWLJLRXV Tournament 01/01/10-29/04/10 £1.75

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Page 1: Daniel Griffin pdf

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COLTS TRIUMPHANT! The Full Story of York RUFC’s Victory In The Yorkshire Bowl

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York-

Help For Heroes Tournament at 2

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01/01/10-29/04/10 £1.75

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UP AND UNDERCONTENTS

Pg.3: York RUFC Sign Ex-Pro in Major Coup- Find out which ex-Leeds star has signed on a free transfer to play for York RUFC.

Pg. 4 & 5: Colts Ba!er Ilkley in Yorkshire Bowl

- York Colts beat Ilkely 13-36 to win the Yorkshire Bowl final and bring the club its first piece of silverware this season. Full match report and player review inside.

Pg. 6: York Raising Funds for Help4Heroes - During their tour to Northern Irelannd, the York senior section will be participating in a charity tournament organised by Help 4 Heroes to raise funds for the Rifles Ba!alions. Details inside.

Pg. 7: Results and Tables- Breakdowns of all results and tables for the York RUFC senior section.

Pg. 8: Youth Section News- Breakdowns of all the goings on in the Youth Section and Academy of York RUFC.

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UP AND UNDERYork land ex-Leeds winger for free in stunning end of season Former Leeds Carn-egie and Wakefield centre Mike Cawthorn has agreed to sign for York RUFC for the re-mainder of the season after his contract was terminated by Hull Ionians. Cawthorn is due to make his debut in the game against Bradford Salem at Clifton Park on Sunday 25th April af-ter Hull Ionians were forced to cancel the contracts of sev-eral players due to deepening financial troubles. York RUFC Chairman, Niall Barry, was full of praise for the signing of Cawthorn: ‘Our President, Mike Negri, had had talks with him (Caw-thorn) in the not so distant

past about joining us as he is based in the city so we jumped at the chance when we heard his con-tract had been cancelled. He will be a great addition to our squad, especially in regards to educating the younger lads in the reserves and we hope we can reach a deal to keep on at Clifton Park for next season.’ Cawthorn, who played for Leeds during their climb through the league tables in the late 1990’s said that he hoped to provide a calming influ-ence to the team and keep them focussed during the last 5 games of the season, particularly in the game against Bradford Salem. Cawthorn said: ‘The Salem

game is a big one be-cause they are one of 3 teams that are a point behind us with a game in hand. We need to beat them to disturb their momentum and maintain our current winning streak.’

Going into the Sa-lem fixture, York are unbeaten in 7 games and third in the York-shire 1 table. How-ever, they are without centre Sam Arkle and tight-head prop Rob Allen.

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UP AND UNDERYork RUFC Colts: Yorkshire Bowl Champions 2009/10

Colts Hammer Ilkley 13-36 to Win First Trophy of the Season

The first silverware of the season has come to Clifton Park in the form of the Yorkshire Bowl.On a stunning Sunday afternoon at Moortown Rugby Club, York RUFC Colts capped off a turbulent season with a thumping victory over Ilkley in the final of the Yorkshire Bowl. Despite missing key players such as flanker Matt Appleton and prop Will Norris, York made an imme-diate impact on the game with second-rower Mark Benson powering home over the Ilkely touchline after a stunning drive through a ruck on the 5-metre line. York’s play was the epitome of rugby in the first 15 minutes with stunning passing manoeuvers set up from the breakdown by scrum-half Arran Thomp-son and fly-half Cameron Griffin which ended with winger Matt Hawkins touching down for York’s sec-ond try which was converted by Max Knighton.

Despite their promising start, York soon began to show the kind of inconsistency which has plagued their season and seen them knocked out of the York-shire Cup and Yorkshire Plate competitions. Ilkley winger Brian O’Connor made a searching run down the left flank and cut inside to be met by a high tackle from centre Charlie Nicholson. Ilkley fly-half James Lambert opted for the kick and was rewarded with 3 points. Ilkley were gifted another lifeline almost immedi-ately, when hooker Tom Sleeman was unable to hold on to an unexpected interception. Lambert seized his opportunity again when the ball was popped back to him from the scrum for a simple drop-goal to make the score 6-12. Unfortunately for Ilkley, winger O’Connor was forced to retire from the game after twisting his knee in a collision with prop Ben Hep-worth shortly after. After the break, York took full advantage of a rear-ranged and haphazard Ilkley, scoring two incredible tries within the first 4 minutes. The first came when stand-in centre Ben Johnson burst

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UP AND UNDERYork RUFC Colts: Yorkshire Bowl Champions 2009/10

through a gaping hole in the Ilkley defence on the half-way line to score under the posts, avoiding 3 tackles in the process. The second was another powerhouse display from Benson who forced his way through 2 opposing defenders to score from a short crash ball from a ruck. Two further con-versions from Kighton meant that victory seemed almost assured. The York defence looked solid as Grif-fin and centres Charlie Nicholson and Ben Johnson put on a master class display of tackling technique and power, with each man individually saving York from potential try-conceding situations. The major sur-prise in this was the man of the match form of Griffin (pictured right with coach Sean Bass) who, before this match, had a reputa-tion as a weak tackler and as having rela-tively poor defensive qualities. After absorbing nearly 20 minutes of constant pressure from the opposition, York again scored two blistering breakaway tries in quick succession. The first came when Nicholson took the ball into heavy contact with Ilkley prop Dave Gillon and offloaded to Griffin who touched down in the corner with Ilkley full-back Steve Whittaker hang-ing from his shoulders. Thompson scored barely a minute later

when he produced a stunning box kick onto Ilkley’s unprotected blindside and chased it down himself to score in the opposite corner to where Griffin had touched down minutes earlier. At 6-36 with 10 minutes to go, York knew they were cruising to victory and, once again, took their foot off the gas. A fumbled catche off the kicking of Ilkley fly-half Eric Huggon from prop Will Dutton provided Ilkley and Huggon with a superb try on the blindside of the scrum to give York a minor scare. However, York held on comfortably to win the game and Bowl 13-36. This was a game that meant everything to both teams but the win for York capped off a largely mediocre season and showed what the senior teams can look forward to bringing in next season.

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UP AND UNDERYork RUFC: Helping Our HeroesYork RUFC Senior section (including mem-bers of the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and Colts teams) will be touring to Belfast in from the 21st to the 23rd of May in order to play in a tourna-ment that will raise funds for the Help for Heroes charity. The tournament, held at 2 Rifles in Ballykinler, will be a weekend-long fundraiser designed to raise funds for the Rifles Battalions through the Help for Heroes charity. President of York RUFC, Micky Negri, said: ‘Hav-ing the opportunity to support our injured soldiers was just too much to pass up. The fact that the tournament was in Ireland is an added bonus as it gives our players a decent end of season tour but the tournament itself will be a highlight. It is a massive honour to be invited to this tournament and we hope we can raise somewhere in the region of £12,500.’The other clubs competing are Sheffield RUFC and Castleford RUFC, York’s rivals in the Yorkshire 1 division, as well as a team of soldiers, past and present, who serve or served in regiments stationed in Ballykinler.

Chief Officer of the Rifles Battalion, Lieu-tenant Colonel William. S. Wright MBE, had nothing but praise for all teams involved in the tournament saying that, without the fantastic support of functions like these, many wounded soldiers would have a much more difficult recovery and went on to say that he was look-ing forward to ‘a weekend of rugby, beer and laughs!’ As an added bonus, 3000 pints of beer have been donated to the event by various small breweries in the region.

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UP AND UNDERResults: Senior

23rd Jan York 18 vs 10 Yarnbury League

30th Jan Castleford 25 vs 13 York League

6th Feb York 17 vs 28 Heath League

13th Feb York 24 vs 20 Dinnington League

20th Feb Wheatley Hills 26 vs 25 York League

27th Feb Selby 30 vs 37 York League

6th Mar York 34 vs 10 Bradford Salem League

13th Mar Bridlington 6 vs 9 York League

20th Mar York 30 vs 14 Scarborough League

27th Mar Keighley 11 vs 17 York League

3rd Apr York 33 vs 3 Skipton League

10th Apr York 25 vs 22 Malton and Norton League

1st Team

9th Jan York RUFC P vs P Selby League

16th Jan Skipton P vs P York RUFC Friendly

23rd Jan Yarnbury 36 vs 7 York RUFC League

30th Jan York RUFC 5 vs 11 Scunthorpe League

6th Feb York RUFC 48 vs 10 Pontefract League

13th Feb Cleckheaton 10 vs 10 York RUFC League

20th Feb York RUFC 12 vs 12 Wheatley Hills Friendly

27th Feb Sheffield Tigers 12 vs 12 York RUFC League

6th Mar Wharfedale 3 vs 31 York RUFC League

13th Mar York RUFC 20 vs 26 Ripon League

20th Mar Scarborough 18 vs 0 York RUFC Friendly

27th Mar York RUFC 20 vs 7 Keighley League

As ever, in this section we provide a rundown of all the results of matches that have taken place since our last issue. The most notable fixture for the first team since the New Year was the victory over Bradford Salem, which bodes well for the Mike Cawthorn’s debut match as his added emphasis will hopefully ensure a much easier win for the Yorkie’s in the return fixture. Going into the final 5 fixtures York RUFC find themselves third in the table.

The Reserve team unfortuna-ley had 2 games postponed due to the excessive snow storms that plagued the nation un-til March. These are due to be played on May 1st (Selby) and the Skipton game will take place a week later on the 8th. The late scheduling is due to both Selby and Skipton’s respected Cup fixture commitments.

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UP AND UNDERResults: Youth Section

2nd

JanOtley 29 vs 13 York RUFC Friendly

16th

JanSelby 10 vs 7 York RUFC

North

Yorkshire

16th

JanYork RUFC Won vs Lost Skipton

Merit

League

23rd

JanYork RUFC 26 vs 12 Yarnbury Friendly

30th

JanYork RUFC 48 vs 0 Old Brodleians Friendly

6th

FebWest Leeds 20 vs 10 York RUFC Friendly

13thFeb

York RUFC 17 vs 3 harrogateMeritLeague

20thFeb

WheatleyHills

15 vs 20 York RUFC Friendly

27th

FebYork RUFC 17 vs 0 Driffield Friendly

6th

MarWharfedale 10 vs 37 York RUFC

Merit

League

13th

MarRipon 14 vs 17 York RUFC

Merit

League

20th

MarYork RUFC 5 vs 0 Scarborough Friendly

27th

Mar

Old

BrodleiansP vs P York RUFC Friendly

10th

AprYork RUFC Won vs Lost

Malton &

Norton

Merit

League

17th

AprYork RUFC 36 vs 13 Ilkley

Yorkshire

Bowl

YorkshireBowl

Yorkshire Bowl

YorkshireBowl

Obviously the most notable fixtures for the Colts this year were the consecutive victories in the Yorkshire Bowl, leading to the club’s only piece of silverware to date this season. With the regular season over, the Colts are already building for next season, recruiting new players from the Academy to replace those who are moving into the senior set up next sea-son. Notable faces such as Ben Hep-worth, Arran Thompson, Mark Benson, Cameron Griffin and captain Charlie Nicholson are just a few names among those who are leaving the Colts to pur-sue senior rugby with the club. However, the Seniors are also taking a large number of Colts players on the tour to Belfast to play in the Help 4 He-roes tournament. As well as the obliga-tory initiation into senior rugby!

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UP AND UNDER Blue Knights

The ONLY

Is Tom Lineham The Future of York City

York Sign Jack Lee On Loan:

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UP AND UNDERContentsPg. 3: Knights Sign Jack Lee On Loan.

- Read up on all the details surrounding Jack Lee’s move down a division to the York Knights from Featherstone Rovers.

Pg. 4 & 5: The Future of the York City Knights?- 18-year-old Tom Lineham talks about being la-belled one of Rugby Leagues future stars.

Pg. 6: Former Great Britain Coach Named as Director of Rugby.

- Former Great Britain and Castleford Tigers coach, Dave Woods, has been appointed the new Director of Rugby at Huntington Park

Pg. 7: Results & Fixtures

- Table of results for the season so far as well as upcoming fixture list and notes on any injury concerns.

Pg. 8: League Tables and Transfer News

- Details on all the ins and outs for the Knights.

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Thank You Featherstone!

York City Knights have pulled off a major transfer bargain for this season by signing Jack Hall from Championship side Featherstone Rovers. Hall, 20, was a first-team regular at Featherstone Rovers last season after joining the side permanently following a successfull loan spell from Super League side Castleford Tigers. The deal was struck after Lee was made available for transfer by Rovers of-ficials following the signing of Ben Kaye from Harlequins. Knights General Manager, Ian Wilson called the signing of Lee ‘a vital step in providing a solid, winning start to the season’ and went on to express how pleased he was that the club was attract-ing such high-profile players. Lee himself added: ‘Coming to the

York City Knights is a great decision for me as it will allow to continue my rugby development in an environment that is entirely different to the Cham-pionship and Super League.’ Lee then went on to explain that, at the Knights level, there is a lot more physicality and a greater set of consequences concerning promotion and relegation: ‘Obviously getting relegated is never easy but it is doubly important in this division because so many teams lack proprer funding. The price of success or failure makes every game doubly important and I think that is reflected in the style of play in this league.

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At 6 feet 3 inches tall and weighing in at a respectable 16st5lbs, York City Knights winger Tom Lineham looks more like a second row from a Rugby Union team rather than the lightning fast winger he has the reputation of being. In fact this observation is almost entirely accurate. Just 18 months ago Tom was playing junior rugby as a flanker for York RUFC Un-der-17s and only made the transition to Rugby League 10 months ago after signing up for the York College RL team. During a post-match interview conducted between the two of us, Tom was very vocal about his relatively new-found passion for rugby league. ‘Rugby league is miles better for me than rugby union; it

hits harder and the games generally flow a better. There’s no rucking, mauling or competitive scrimmaging either which is a real bonus because, in my opinion, they represent everything that’s wrong with Union. Rugby league is all about focuss-ing on the basic fundamentals of Rugby, running with the ball, quick passing and hard tackling, all of which I prefer to the slow play and kicking game in Union.’ Given recent events, there can be lit-tle doubt in anyone’s mind that he en-joys the running. Two months ago at the tender age of 17, Tom was a last minute entrant into the Carnegie Sprint Chal-lenge- a race designed to find the fastest players in the rugby league world. He competed against representatives from 8 Super League teams and 3 Championship teams, the biggest names among which were Hull KR’s Peter Fox and Wigan Warrior’s Amos Roberts. During the course of the sprint, Line-ham pulled out a shock 3rd place finish, coming in third only two-hundredths of a second behind the pre-race favourite, Warrington’s Kevin Penny, and four hundredths of a second behind surprise winner Jamel Chisholm, the replace-ment for injured Leeds representative Scott Donald. Fortunately, the success and recognition he has received for his impressive fin-ish hasn’t gone to the young lad’s head: ‘People can make a fuss about this if they want but it was just a one-off. The only way to determine the fastest player is if every team in the entire rugby league set up sends a player down. It’s a great personal

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achievement to be spoken of in the same breath as proper pro-fessionals but I need to do a lot more if I’m going to get proper recognition among the big boys.’ As well as posting his impres-sive time of 11.5 seconds (wear-ing full kit) for the 90 metres Lineham, as he is known to his friends, also made his Knights first team debut last month, after impressing in a number of reserve-grade academy matches where he has been a regular try-scorer. Only a month after making his first-team debut Tom has been awarded a new deal for the rest of this season and the 2011/12 season. When asked about the potential to move to a bigger club Tom was fairly nonchalant: ‘I’m not look-ing beyond this season to be honest. I want to stay here and learn more about the game and build myself up into a first-team regular before I even think about moving. I’d rather stay with the Knights and see us promoted but if an opportunity comes along in a few years time I’d be stupid not to think about it.’ However, Tom is the first to admit that, at this stage, it is all just speculation and Knights gaf-fer James Ratcliffe agrees: ‘It’s the lad’s first year in the game so he’s still learning. He’s already accomplished more in that year

than most people do in 3 or 4 years but he needs to earn his place with us. We will be working closely with Tom to take the raw materials he has and convert them into a fully-fledged rugby league player.’ Despite the praise he gained from the Carnegie Sprint Challenge and from his performances in the reserves and Knights first time, it hasn’t all been plain sailing for the former York RUFC youngster. ‘I got a bit of a slating for my performance in the loss to Doncaster RLFC. The pa-pers gave me a bad write up saying I was frail defensively and not good enough to succeed. It’s all just media spin really so I’m not too bothered. Everyone has a bad game or an off day now and again and I’ll admit I had a pretty shocking game. The Doncaster lads ran rings around me and I wasn’t happy about it but I think it was unfair for the reporter who wrote the article to judge me on one poor performance. Like the gaffer said I’m still learning the game so all I can do is improve.’ As well as fulfilling his commitments with the Knights, Lineham is also soon to be moving to Selby College to study a sport diploma. This combined with his practical, pragmatic and philosophical approach to his personal rugby development mean that he will receive a decent education and, at the same time, have a poten-tially bright future in the world of rugby league that will begin next season with the York City Knights. All he needs to is follow the words of his coach con-vert his raw talent into skill and capability.

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York City Knights have appointed former Great Britain Under 18’s and former Castleford Tigers and Gateshead Thunder Coach Dave Woods as their Director of Rugby. Woods joins the Knights with imme-diate effect until the end of next season. Woods will be responsible for player recruitment and development as well as consulting with the head coach on team selection and assistant coaches. Woods will also be responsible for managing the playing budget within the constraints of the Knights board and for coach devel-opment. Commenting on the news of Woods’ appointment, Knights General Manager Ian Wilson said, ‘We are lucky to be in a position to appoint such a high-cal-iber candidate. His track record is far and away better than anyone else in our division and is as good as anyone in the division above ours.’ Wilson went to say that Woods’ experience and knowledge will be a great asset to the club. Woods himself was optimistic but pragmatic in his short statement re-leased following his appointment: ‘The main priority for me is to maintain the Knights as a competitive force in our di-vision, both on the pitch and financially. I will be taking a few weeks to further assess the clubs situation but I am con-vinced that I can bring this club forward and make promotion an inevitability.’

Woods began his coaching career at the Pentirth Panthers, where he worked alongside current St Helens Coach Mick Potter and former Wigan leg-end Brett Kenny. Woods’ first game in English Rugby League was against the Knights while he was coaching Castleford. That season ended in victory for Woods and the Tigers with a win against Whitehaven to gain promotion back to the Super League. Woods left Castleford to coach Gateshead where he again won promotion in 2008. In more recent times Woods has spent time with St Helens and Great Britain Under 18’s.

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Results & FixturesFixtures/results - Season 2010

Date Day

H/A Time

Fixture Res F/A

Dec 27 FriendlySun

H 3:00 York SelectL 6-

16

Jan 15 Friendly Fri H 8:00 Hull KR W 28-6

Jan 17 Friendly Sun

H 3:00 Castleford Tigers W 36-30

Jan 21 Friendly Thu

H 7:30 Hunslet Hawks W 50-

12Feb 7 NRC2 Su

nH 3:00 Leigh Centurions W 13-

12

Feb 10 Friendly Wed

H 8:00 Leeds Rhinos L 10-28

Feb 14 NRC3 Sun

A 3:00 Sheffield Eagles L 10-40

Feb 17 NRC1 Wed

A 8:00 Rochdale Hornets W 36-12

Feb 21 CC Rd 1 Sun

H 3:00 London Skolars W 36-8

Mar 7 C Cup Rd 3 Sun

A 3:00 Gateshead Thunder W 44-12

Mar 10 NRC4 Sun

H 3:00 London Skolars W 34-12

Mar 14 CC Rd 2 Sun

A 3:00 Workington Town L 22-32

Mar 21 CC Rd 3 Sun

H 3:00 South Wales RLFC W 25-24

Mar 28 CC Rd 4 Sun

A 3:00 Doncaster RLFC L 24-40

Apr 2 CC Rd 5 Fri H 3:00 Gateshead Thunder W 72-14

Apr 5 CC Rd 6 Mon

A 3:00 Blackpool Panthers L 14-27

Apr 18 C Cup Rd 4 Sun

H 3.00 Crusaders RL L 8-56

Apr 25 CC Rd 7 Sun

H 3:00 Rochdale Hornets W 36-34

May 3 CC Rd 8 Mo H 3:00 Swinton Lions

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Team P W D L PF PA Diff Bns Pts

Hunslet 7 6 0 1 288 93 195 0 18

Blackpool 6 6 0 0 239 76 163 0 18Oldham 6 6 0 0 191 92 99 0 18York 7 4 0 3 229 179 50 1 13

South Wales 7 3 0 4 154 143 11 3 12Rochdale 7 3 0 4 228 196 32 2 11

Doncaster 8 3 0 5 196 292 -96 2 11Workington 6 2 0 4 146 124 22 3 9Swinton 6 3 0 3 146 198 -52 0 9

London Skolars 8 0 0 8 112 354 -242 2 2Gateshead 6 1 0 5 88 270 -182 1 -2

The Knights find themselves perched precariously in fourth with South Wales only a point behind in fifth. A wrong result in the next game could see them slip sixth behind South Wales and Rochdale. York are put even further in limbo by the fact that third-place Oldham are 5 points clear with a game in hand. It will be hard work to recreate last season’s finish but with the new faces in the squad and a fair share of good luck it should still be possible to earn that elusive promotion.

Transfers In: Jack Lee (hooker), loan from Featherstone Rovers, Jordan Thompson (centre), loan from Castleford. John Davies (back-row forward), loan from Castleford. Tom Lineham (winger), promoted from reserves academy.

Transfers Out: None

Out of the four new faces to grace the turf this season, by far and away the most exciting are loan signing Jack Lee and the fast-tracked academy youngster Tom Lineham. Lee and Lineham have both taken steps to ce-menting their statuses as first team regulars and look like decent prospects for the future. The other two on-loan youngsters from Castleford are yet to make their first team debuts but are hotly tipped to be key players for the Knights by the end of the season. Much has been said in the Castleford camp about Thompson’s incredible vision and off-loading while the same people wax lyrical about Davies’ brutal powerhouse running ability. These attributes, if proven true, are certain to make these youngsters fan favourites at the Huntington Stadium.