Wetherby 12 – 15 Yarnbury – Yorks 2 League

match report by John Rawson

Wetherby 12 – 15 Yarnbury – Yorks 2 League

Yarnbury were faced with the usual changes during the September holiday period making eight changes ton the squad and thankful for an ever expanding pool of young players but experience would be needed to take advantage of a Wetherby side who by design run opponents close.The backline wassaw several changes with Danny Pound at stand off and George Oldridge at full back and Tom O’Brian in the centre with Jarrod Huss and Alex Clark and Jack Brown coming in on the wings a completely new backs set up.In the pack the back row saw Alex Bennett come in and Rich Lister and Oliver Cashman were drafted into the squad so a much changed team meaning 30 players had been selected by only the third game.Hopefully ‘The Chevin Runs’ orchestrated by Assistant Coach Gary Walker would see the team through the game from a fitness point of view.

Yarnbury dropped the kick off to give Wetherby the possession and had to defend from the start with the defensive line holding up against a strong Wetherby eight particularly in the scrums.
However,from a Wetherby defensive punt down field winger Jack Brown gathered the ball and in a characteristic winding run across the field got past the gain line and fed his opposite number on the other wing Alex Clark who knows where the line is and beat several defenders to score at the posts.With Jarrod Huss converting the opening score gave the home side something to think about facing the league leaders.

To be fair Wetherby came storming back and were very impressive in the pack putting pressure on the Yarnbury eight missing their regular second row pairing. and after conserted pressure and several penalties went over for a pushover try touched down by No8 Paul Mimms and converted by full back Billy Coyle.The Horsforth side were pushing for another score and were stopped by a mixture of good Wetherby defence and poor final passes on attack from Yarnbury where an experience head would have made a difference. No8 Jimmy Cryan was making some crunching rackles in the middle of the park leading by example as Captain of the side.Wetherby took the lead before half time with an unconverted try by second row Tom Bottomley stretching over from a ruck to put the league leaders behind at the break and in a tough contest.

The second half saw Yarnbury down the slope and with the breeze and mounting attacks down both wings with good runs from Alex Clark and Jack Brown but the defence was holding.Both full back George Oldridge and centre Jarrod Huss pushed back the Wetherby attacks with good clearence kicks to put Wetherby on the defence.The former also made two last ditch tackles to keep winger Jack Kaye off the score sheet after the home side broke well from defence.Wetherby had an impressive pack of forwards working down the middle of the park but no plan B so Yarnbury took a penalty when offered converted by Jarrod Huss to close the scores and pressure told in the final quarter when Yarnbury moved the ball wide left for full back Nigal Benton to make the whitewash for the winning score unconverted by Huss.Substitute back row Martin Rainey was impressive in the final quarter with some strong carries into the home pack which saw Yarnbury tough out the final minutes for a good win to remain unbeaten and clear at the top of the division when other contenders slipped back.