Yarnbury club round up
Mar
Yarnbury have got stronger as the season progressed and their squad of players mix and match well in the forwards and becks to cover for inevitable injuries and work committments.The visit to South Yorkshire against their old rivals being no exception.With influential centre Jason Avison out for work commitments Club Captain Stephen Riley once again plugged the gap and Lawrence Smith came in at Stand Off for Dr John Moore and the returning Chris Flowers was back on the left wing to fill the void.Graham Maycock returning to the bench duty.
Coach Bob Hood started with the experienced Dave Moss back at No8 to rest young Adam Malthouse for his Yrkshire duties and Yarnbury began as they left off at Skipton last week.After early pressure and working the ball deep into the Dinnington half Richard Longstaff shot out of a ruck to go in under the posts without a hand been laid on him.Stephen Riley converted and Dinnington were bemused at the Yarnbury start.It got worse for the home side when second row Ian Maycock got clear after clever interpassing in the pack and looked unstoppable charging for the line only to be anckle tapped and sending out a forwards pass which Lawrence Smith could not gather.Howver,constant Yarnbury pressure saw a similar forward charge before good passing sent in Dave Moss out wide right.
Dinnington were working the ball up the field mostly on the left hand side at every opportunity and put some pressure on the Yarnbury defence which always seemed in control with big hits in the middle of the park from Stephen Riley and Danny Thompson snuffing out the threat.While the pace of the Yarnbury backs always looked threatening to the home side and winger Chris Flowers finished another good move after good ball was secured by Adam Pike and his front five before moving it blind for the winger to go in unopposed.Riley kicked the conversion to give the Horsforth side a cushion at half time.
Dinnington were determined to come back in the second half as they desperatley need the points and the forward runs were predictable and contained by sterling work in defence from the Yarnbury pack with big hits going in from Dave Hunter and Richard Longstaff with props Adam Pike and Richard Lister.Bruce Johnson Laird had come in at hooker from the back row due to injuries and his throwing in at the line out killed off any Dinningtom threat and he also found the time to take a couple against the head in the scrums.The Dinnington pack could not dominate for long periods and their back play was slow and predictable and closed down by the Yarnbury defence.
In the closing minutes Yarnbury got the ball moving quick right with captain Mark Dixon looking clear for the corner from 22 metres out.Unfortunatley he decided to throw a reverse pass rather than dive and the final chance was gone.The third win in five and two two point losses all bodes well for the run in with four of five games at home. Leaders Sheffield come calling to Horsforth next Saturday.
Yarnbury Hornets 19 - 8 Old Crossleyans - Yorkshire 1 Second Team Merit League
A workmanlike performance on the whole by the Hornets resulted in a deserved victory over Old Crossleyans. The team will be happy having suffered a narrow defeat in the corresponding away fixture earlier in the season. With kick off delayed by ten minutes as the appointed society referee failed to arrive, Yarnbury’s own Chairman of rugby Dave Hornby creditably stepped forward to officiate the game. Both sides did well not to ponder on this fact and the game was played in a good spirit throughout.
After only 9 minutes of the game Yarnbury broke the deadlock. Tom Bowman was the beneficiary as a kick over the top by Tom Daniels was allowed to bounce by no less than three surrounding Crossleyans players. Bowman gathered on the half way line and the in form winger went the easy way to the corner instead of attempting to beat the desperately covering defence. Consequently, Phil Davies missed the attempted conversion giving the Yarnbury side a 5-0 lead.
On 15 minutes Crossleyans scored their only points of the first half. An impressive penalty kick from distance easily having the legs to fly well over the bar. Yarnbury had been penalised for going over the top in a ruck, a ploy which both sides persevered with for most of the afternoon.
Yarnbury posted the next try of the game as Phil Davies ghosted through the defensive line to score under the posts giving himself an easy two point conversion. This after 25 minutes, and as it would remain at the half time interval 12-3.
The second half was a dour affair with little structure. Yarnbury did have the upper hand, stronger on the floor and scrapping for the many loose balls.
Crossleyans managed their solitary try of the game on 70 minutes after a calamitous mix by the Hornets in their own 22. A charged down kick, followed by shovelling the ball backwards along the ground presented Crossleyans with the easiest of tries, falling on the bouncing ball in the try area. The conversion was missed making the score 12-8.
The fact that Crossleyans were now back in touch in a game that they had offered very little in attack was now clear. The Hornets responded in exactly the right way. Three minutes later Yarnbury scored their third try to put the game to bed, Tom Whitfield once again popping up in the most unlikely of places to score in the left corner. Tom Daniels made the initial line break and good have been greedy and gone for the line himself but instead he fed the ball wide to the better placed Whitfield who plucked it from the air and scored despite the attention of one Crossleyans defender. Phil Davies’ conversion was the last points of the game. Final score 19-8.
Yarnbury 3rds 5 Keighley 3rds 24
Yarnbury traveled to Keighley with a much changed side and a man short, a disappointment considering the strength of the previous week’s numbers. The home side showed good spirit and lent Yarnbury a player to even up the teams. The loss of influential No. 8 Malty within the first 5 minutes hit Yarnbury hard and made the task much harder. It was Yarnbury however who scored first after Stand off Rob McLeod took a quick tap and simply ran around Keighley’s defence. Rob failed to convert his own try. An attempted penalty was the only other scoring chance that Yarnbury had. Keighley scored tries through over powering the valiant defensive attempts and some good back play. The much smaller and generally younger Yarnbury team struggled with the Keighley pack but never gave up and fought to the bitter end. The young players will learn a lot from this type of game, not only the skill and strength needed to play a forwards game but most importantly the spirit in which to play the game of rugby. There was no foul play or nastiness for the full 80 minutes an indication of the respect both teams have for each other.
