Harrogate RUFC's title win 'incredibly satisfying', says Dan Scarbrough following final-day victory

Harrogate RUFC's Richie Kaisia, left, and Pete Olley, right, congratulate team-mate Kristan Dobson after he completed his hat-trick of tries during Saturday's title-clinching victory over Driffield. Pictures: Gerard Binks

Relegated at the end of last season, the Aces will be back in English rugby's fourth tier next term after wrapping up the North One East title on the final day of 2023/24.

Kristan Dobson was the star of the show, scoring four tries as Harrogate beat Driffield 45-27, a result which saw them crowned champions ahead of rivals Heath.

That victory was the Rudding Lane outfit's 16th in 22 league outings and head coach Scarbrough was quick to hail the achievement of his squad.

Harrogate RUFC's 1st XV players and staff celebrate winning the North One East title and securing promotion back to National Two North.

"Winning promotion feels incredibly satisfying,” he said. “But full credit has to go to the boys, who have done brilliantly over the course of what has been a pretty tough season.

"It certainly hasn’t been easy. One of the first questions I was asking when I came to the club last summer was about whether promotion was the aim, but it was always going to be a challenge coming off the back of a relegation season.

"In terms of mindset, this team had been losing a lot of games and had a difficult couple of years, so we didn't want to focus too far ahead, it was always just a case of taking each game as it came.

"We tried to simplify things and put a new structure in place and eventually we got there, but with so many cancellations over the Christmas period and a lot of other games being called off it has been hard to find consistency and build momentum.

Aces full-back Kodie Brook dives over the try-line early in the second half of Saturday's North One East clash at Kelleythorpe.

"But, credit to the players, they have just rolled with it and, although it’s not ideal leaving it until the final day of the season, they have stepped up when it mattered and got the job done. I always knew the quality was there within the group, it was really just a case of getting it right mentally, and they’ve managed to do that more often than not.”

Harrogate headed into Saturday's game two points ahead of second-placed Heath and knowing that a victory of any kind would guarantee that they remained in pole position and thus gained promotion.

But they were denied home advantage for such an important fixture due to their own pitch not being playable, with the match first moved to Knaresborough RUFC, before heavy rainfall meant that it had to take place at Driffield's Kelleythorpe base.

And the Aces didn’t exactly get off to the best of starts, falling behind with just three minutes on the clock, then heading into half-time six points behind.

Guy Coser on the attack for Harrogate on the final day of the season.

They did eventually manage to take control of proceedings during the latter stages, however Scarbrough admitted that he was concerned that the occasion had got to some of his troops during the first half.

"We had tried to take the pressure off the players and focus on just following our processes,” added the former England international.

"We wanted to approach it like any other game but I could sense during the first half a level of tension with what was at stake.

"We looked a bit scared to play in parts, so the message at half-time was simply ‘go and get it’.”

“It wasn’t just going to happen, we had to play our game, and we did that a lot better in the second 40.”