Wheatley Hills 35 - Yarnbury 13
Mar
After impressive form in the last two months this fixture did not hold the apprehension it normally would have visiting the top team in Yorkshire One a fact referred to in The Home sides programme notes to welcome The Horsforth side which were without Captain Mark Dixon on the wing due to unavailability and injured Dave Hunter in second row,Lawrence Smith and Adam Malthouse coming in for full games.
The half started badly for the Horsforth side with Wheatley pinning Yarnbury in their own 25 mtre area due to the force of their pack,poor kicking out of defence from the Yarnbury backs and unenforced errors and dropped balls with no pressure.It was no suprise that Wheatley pressure led to two easy penalties for player coach and stand off Dan Storey and Jamie Webb going in at the right corner following good ball won by the home forwards.Generous points for the Doncaster side before Yarnbury began to show their skills with good ball won they cut the Wheatley defence apart with full back Andy Greaves scoring in the right corner after a sweeping move from their own 25 metre line after good ball won by second row Ian Maycock who was quite secure at number two in the line out.This response rattled Wheatley for a time and Yarnbury went clea through the Wheatley defence shortly afterwards with a clean speedy break from centre Canny Thompson for him to unexplicably pass the ball to a returning opposition player.Wheatley responded with a try from hooker Mark Cahill to make it 19-5 at half time.
In the second period Yarnbury came into the game more with excellent foraging by Captain for the day Richard Longstaff in the back row assisted by Dave Moss and Joe Mills who were never phased by having to make the hard yards against a robust opposition.For the third quarter the game was in the balance without Yarnbury looking to score .Wheatley conceded challenging at the Yarnbury line outs but as a pack put exptreme pressure on the attacking line to disrupt the Yarnbury ball.They also wheeled the scrums on a regular basis to stop scrum half Oliver Cashman orchestrating the attacks.
The game was lost in the 65th and 68th minutes when mistakes and an interception gave Wheatley two further tries from second row Andrew Penno and no8 Ben Elliott converted by Dan Storey with Yarnbury chasing the game.A late try from full back Andy Greaves using his pace and skill to outwit the covering defence with a customary long diagonal run to the line.
Yarnbury need to be able to clear their lines for the four home league games to come to ensure Yorkshire League 1 safety this season but the skill,committment and determination is a credit to The Horsforth side who are playing their part in an impressive top Yorkshire League this season.
