The first team started the season well with two wins from the first three games, some very good results considering it can be a struggle to get a consistent team out during the university holidays. After this great start to the season the 1st team experienced a tough run of games, following the loss of over 20 players due to graduation, losing by fine margins in many of them.

This loss of the players gave the 1st team a great chance to rebuild, with many freshers joining in September getting the opportunity to cement themselves in the team. With a very new team playing it was inevitable that we would face an early struggle as we learned how to play together and develop our style of rugby. The string of losses developed the team’s resilience and after weeks of learning and developing as a squad we were rewarded with a 23-10 win against Castleford. The 1st team continued a solid run of form into Christmas, achieving two bonus point wins in the last four games.

After the Christmas break the first team struggled with consistency, resulting in some very mixed performances in the league and NAMS. However, some highlights from this period include a great battle with Old Otliensians, with the 1st team managing to claw back a draw of 28-28 after falling 28 points behind at half time. Another notable game was a big away win to Leeds Medics and Dentists with the 1st team winning 42-7 establishing our dominance in Yorkshire.

This win progressed the 1st team into the National Association of Medical Schools (NAMS) quarter final where we faced Cardiff away. It was a well contested game however we took too long to switch on with Cardiff scoring 20 unanswered points in the first 30 minutes of the game. As the game progressed, we started playing our system and manage to score a couple tries of our own. The game finished 28-10 to Cardiff, who then continued through the competition and won the final.

It was a great experience for our young squad, with most of the team not having played in the NAMS knock out stages before. It showed us that we are capable of progressing through the competition and now our sights are set for next season where we know we are very capable of winning the whole competition.

After being knocked out of NAMS the 1st team were fuelled to redeem ourselves in the league. We made some changes to the structure of our game and this helped us achieve the consistency in our play that we were looking for. These changes resulted in home bonus point wins against Knottingley and Halifax Vandals as well an away win to Castleford. Unfortunately, this run of form was halted by the cancellation of games due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Although we would have loved to finish the season, we appreciate that some things are more important than rugby and we hope that everyone remains safe.

After the premature end to the season we are really looking forward to playing again and seeing what next season brings. With only a few players leaving after this season and our establishment of a winning system of rugby we have a great amount of confidence moving forward into the next season. Where we believe that we can achieve promotion from Yorkshire 3 as well as winning NAMS.

A big thank you to our sponsors for this year:
Omnia Property Group
B-On-1
Dexcom
Collectiv
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