National League 2 North 24/25 Season

Saturday 12th October 2024

Harrogate Men's 1st XV

V

Chester RUFC 1st XV

KO 3:00pm

Proudly Sponsored by...

Harrogate v Chester - 12th October 2024

Welcome to Harrogate Rugby Club...

Dear Friends, Supporters, and Rugby Fans,

Good afternoon and welcome to Harrogate Rugby Club for our third national league game of the 2024 season against Chester RUFC. 

LLLLL, that isn’t a stutter it is, unfortunately, our current performance in this league! But are surprised? We knew this was going to be a huge step back up from Regional 1 and we have seen exactly what we expected.

So if we knew this was going to be the case what have we done about it? Well the statistics speak for themselves, at this stage when last in this division we had just 4 points from an away win at Huddersfield. We has also only 11 tries at this point rather than the 17 we have scored this season.  

The challenge remains defence as we consistently give away points even if the margins we are losing by are now reduced. But there is no doubt this is a better start to the season than when we last played in this league! So what does that mean for today’s game? Well, we need to win and given when Chester last visited that is what happened I think we can go into today’s game with confidence and positivity! Up the Gate! 

Yours in Rugby,

Mark Garrett

Chairman, Harrogate RUFC     

Welcome Chester RUFC - A brief history..

History of Chester RUFC 
 
There was a Rugby club in Chester in the 1880s and there was a game between Chester and New Brighton in 1879-80, but this club later disbanded.  
 
Chester RUFC was re-formed under the Chairmanship of Colonel Charles Bromley during a meeting at the YMCA in October of 1925.

Having played on pitches at both the Racecourse and Bumpers Lane, in 1932, the Club moved to rented facilities at Boughton Hall as tenants of the Cricket Club. Here they stayed for almost 30 years until an old American army camp, along with adjoining fields, at Vicars Cross was purchased and the Club moved there in 1961.
Rugby blossomed in the 1960s and 1970s with a fixture list including some of the top clubs in the North of England and many Chester players were awarded county honours. The 1980s was a quiet period for the Club, with playing strength less than before and the fixture list suffering as a result.

 The introduction of league rugby for season 1985/6 revitalised Chester rugby and started a new era. Chester was one of ten teams in the inaugural North West 1 League and the following season, despite a variable record, were placed in the first official Courage League, North West Division 1. In 1994 a new clubhouse was built and in 1998 Chester were promoted from North West 1 to North 2. Two years later another promotion, to North 1, along with another losing Cheshire Cup final, against New Brighton, as in the previous season, gave the Club its most successful season to date. Since the turn of the century Chester has made that final four more times, winning the Cup in 2004.

 The 2007/8 season was one of the most successful in the Club’s history. Not only were Chester promoted as League Champions from North 2 West (having been relegated from North 1 the previous season) but they also won the EDF Intermediate Cup, at Twickenham, with a 21-18 win over local rivals Birkenhead Park.
 
Chester are currently 10th in the league table having won 2 games and lost 3. Last week Chester defeated Sheffield Tigers 59 – 17.Chester won their first game of the season against Preston 32-30. They lost 19 – 51 against Lymm, lost 19 – 30 against Hull Ionians and lost 24 – 47 against Fylde.
20/4/1957Chester 11 – 14 Harrogate
 
12/3/1966Harrogate 17 – 5 Chester
 
11/3/1967Chester 19 – 9 Harrogate
 
2/12/1967Cancelled (Foot and mouth disease)
 
18/9/1976Harrogate 7 – 10 Chester
 
6/12/1980Harrogate 20 – 6 Chester 
 
17/12/2012Chester 30 – 19 Harrogate NL3N
 
23/3/2013Harrogate 15 – 7 Chester NL3N
 
7/12/2013Chester 31 – 13 Harrogate NL2N
 
5/4/2014 Harrogate 15 – 17 Chester NL2N
 29/11/2014 Harrogate 38 – 15 Chester NL2N
 
28/3/2015 Chester 17 – 22 Harrogate NL2N
 
24/10/2015Harrogate 39 – 22 Chester N2N
 
13/2/2016Chester 23 – 27 Harrogate N2N
 
19/11/2016Harrogate 6 – 3 Chester N2N
 
25/3/2017Chester 30 – 10 Harrogate N2N
 
30/10/2021Harrogate 11 – 14 Chester NL2N 
 
5/3/2022Chester 34 – 14 Harrogate NL2N 
 
5/11/2022Chester45 – 19 Harrogate NL2N
 
4/3/2023Harrogate21 – 17 Chester NL2N

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Team News...

Harrogate RUFC

15 – Ted Morley

14 – Amrit Sharma 

13 – Conor Miller

12 – Fred Chell

11 – Jake Abram

10 – Tom Steene

9 – Tom Pettitt

1 – Steve Maycock

2 – Charlie Head

3 – Jacob Percival

4 – Callum Russell

5 – Sam Brady (Capt)

6 – Edward Challis

7 – Ben Richardson

8 – Will Hill

Replacements:

16 – Oliver Fretwell

17 – Lawrence Richmond

18 – Sam Shepherd

19 – Oliver Toomey

20 – Harry Taylor

Chester RUFC

15 – Jacob Browne
14 – Harvey May
13 – Samuel Russell
12 – Izaak Gosling
11 – Tyler Spence
10 – Gregory Smith
9 – Joseph Harrison
1 – Wade Williams
2 – Harry Holden
3 – Michael Ashdown
4 – Ewan Naylor
5 – Alastair Murray
6 – Declan Norrington
7 – Cameron Wilkinson
8 – Scott Richardson

Replacements:

16 – Thomas Guest
17 – Alfie Longstaff
18 – Robert Willetts
19 – Jake Maher
20 – Ciaran O’Donnell

Today’s Referee:

Ref:  Peter Connor
AR1: Simon Lazenby
AR2: Don Helme
 
Ref Coach:  Peter Scott

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National 2 North Table

Today's League Games

Season 2024/25

DateOppositionHome/AwayResultDateOppositionHome/AwayResult
07-Sep-24BillinghamAway33- 12 L21-Dec-24WharfedaleAway 
14-Sep-24WharfedaleHome29-35 L11-Jan-25SheffieldHome 
21-Sep-24SheffieldAway57-19 L18-Jan-25Preston GrasshoppersAway 
28-Sep-24Preston GrasshoppersHome31-38 L 25-Jan-25LymmHome 
05-Oct-24LymmAway57-24 L 08-Feb-25ChesterAway 
12-Oct-24ChesterHome 15-Feb-25FyldeHome 
19-Oct-24FyldeAway 01-Mar-25Sheffield TigersAway 
26-Oct-24Sheffield TigersHome 08-Mar-25Hull IoniansHome 
09-Nov-24Hull IoniansAway 15-Mar-25TynedaleHome 
16-Nov-24TynedaleAway 22-Mar-25OtleyAway 
23-Nov-24OtleyHome 05-Apr-25HullHome 
07-Dec-24HullAway 12-Apr-25Leeds TykesAway 
14-Dec-24Leeds TykesHome 26-Apr-25BillinghamHome 

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