Yarnbury v Wath

match report by John Rawson

Yarnbury are managing their reserves of player strength on a weekly basis and coming up with the results to stay top of the division despite the opposition being strong and competitive particularly built on strong forward power.Wath were built in the same mould and Yarnbury would have to match the forward eight and get good ball to use the wide excesses of the Yarnbury pitch.Again changes were made particularly in the backs with new centre James White joining Calum Smithson in the centres and Josh Bateson and Connor Moreton in on the wings.Adam Batson was in the second row for his first game of the season.Other sides already making references to Yarnbury’s strength in depth giving them a distinct advantage but the constant changes mean more disjointed performances.

Wath showed their commitment from the start retaining the ball and making ground through their forwards.Yarnbury lost their first lineout giving more ground to the visitors and a penalty for offside kept the pressure on the home side but the defence was sharp and from a counter by winger Josh Bateson using his pace linking well with centre Connor Moreton a try looked possible but Yarnbury were penalised at the tackle for going over the top.Yarnbury wee giving away to many penalties in their enthusiasm to get hands on the ball and stand off for Wath Jack Whitam
opened the scoring.Yarnbury were dangerous on the counter attack and from another Bateson run and five metre line out prop Richard Lister grounded the ball close in for the first Yarnbury try.Converted by stand off Jarrod Huss from wide out to give Yarnbury the lead.

From further pressure as Yarnbury retained more ball Huss converted a penalty to extend the lead at half time.

Yarnbury continued to apply pressure and try and move the ball around but winger Josh Batson was stopped short.Wath continued to compete and winger Sam Holt slipped between three players after good defence from Bateson to score a Wath try to close the gap to 10-8 and then went ahead as Yarnbury were penalised for offside again when Whitham converted a straight forward penalty.Three minutes later Yarnbury took back the lead with a Huss penalty to lead 13 –11 but had to defend ferociously to keep out a South Yorkshire side scenting a possible win as Yarnbury continued to allow Wath to keep up the territorial pressure with penalties.

On 70 minutes Yarnbury made space out wide left with Centre James White switcxhing the ball to Huss who looped wide left to outflank the Wath defence and race 50 meters to the line without a defending hand placed on him to increase the Yarnbury lead.From the kick off Wath nearly scored as nobody claimed the kick off but the defence held firm with Captain and No8 Jimmy Cryan and second row Reece Leighton putting in some big hits before full back George Oldridge intercepted a stray pass from the Wath backs as they tried to open up the home defence to race 50 metres to confirm another hard fought win for the home side.The second string continued to show their strength with a fine home win against Wharfedale seconds in their merit league winger Ben Meays scoring the winning try.Score 21-19.Again showing the development of the amateur game at Yarnbury is on sound principles and augurs well for the future.