In normal times the end of season Championship play-off game between Wakefield Trinity and York RLFC Knights would be a fight to the death for a place in the Million Pound Game and a chance for a tilt at Super League rugby in 2025, but these are not normal times.
With next year’s topflight line up to be decided by a desk exercise in the hands of the RFL’s consultants, IMG, what was to play for today was IMG success points, with Wakefield Trinity already guaranteed promotion.
Wakefield were strong favourites with the bookies, and it would have taken a brave man to back the visitors after Trinity romped to big wins in all of the games that the two sides have played in the 2024 season.
Max Jowitt took full advantage of a missed tackle from Tom Lineham as he took a Jermaine McGillvary pass and went twenty metres to score under the sticks. He added the extra two to his own try for the lead on ten minutes.
On their first foray into the Wakefield half, York opened their account as Oli Field cut through a lacklustre Trinity defence after taking a Nikau Williams pass to go in. Will Dagger added the conversion from wide to level the scores, not what the home sides supporters had expected.
Bang on half time, Liam Harris dropped a goal to snatch the lead going into the break.
It was a humdinger of a battle between two evenly matched sides as the game went into the interval, Wakefield were going to have to fight hard for the win, Daryl Powell needed to give his finest rallying half time talk.
Nine minutes after the restart Matty Ashurst cut through the York defence from twenty metres, ignoring the supporting Luke Galeon his shoulder to score himself. Jowitt was again on target with the boot, and Trinity had a five-point lead.
The lead switched again on the hour mark when Jordan Thompson created the gap in the Wakefield defence off a Ata Hingano pass to again find Hingano in support to squeeze the ball down. Dagger hit the target with the conversion, York back in front with twenty minutes remaining.
A Mason Lino high kick saw Joe Brown slip giving Oli Pratt the chance to collect the ball and pass to Derrell Olpherts to run in for the third Trinity try of the game. Jowitt was wide with his conversion attempt but with thirteen minutes remaining, the home side had a three-point lead.
The game was won on seventy-five when Ian Thornley reacted fastest to a Mason Lino kick to take the ball and score the winning try. Jowitt added the extras for 22-13, Trinity into the play-off final next weekend against either Toulouse or Bradford.
It was a brave effort by York, who gave Wakefield quite a scare for long periods of the game, but in the end the full-timers had the energy to push on until the eightieth minute to exploit the Knights tiredness and take the win. At times Trinity looked rattled but they got the result to end York’s season and book their place in next week’s final as they look to ´rubber stamp´ the IMG gradings.
Wakefield Trinity: Jowitt (T, 3/4 G), McGillvary, Thornley (T), Pratt, Olpherts (T), Gale, Lino, Bowden, Hood, Rodwell, Ashurst (T), Griffin, Pitts. Subs: Atoni, Uele, Vagana, Doyle. 18thMan: Kay.
York RLFC Knights: Dagger (2/2 G), Brown, Field (T), Williams, Lineham, Hingano (T), Harris (DG), Thompson, Jubb, Ta’ai, Dee, Bailey, Cunningham. Subs: Santi, Michael, Daley, Martin. 18th Man: Cook.
Half-Time: 6-7.
Full-Time: 22-13.
Score Progression: 4-0, 6-0, 6-4, 6-6, 6-7 : HT: 10-7, 12-7, 12-11, 12-13, 16-13, 20-13, 22-13 :FT.
Lead Exchanges: Wakefield – Square – York – Wakefield – York - Wakefield.
Referee: Aaron Moore.
