Yarnbury 1st XV v Wath on Dearne 1st XV

match report by John Rawson

Yarnbury were again short on poundage in the pack for the visit to Wath on Dearne against opponents beaten comfortably at Horsforth in the first half of the season but who are a much stronger and bigger outfit at home these days.Yarnbury were missing influential forwards second row James Falgate and pack leader and number 8 Jimmy Cryan a big loss in experience for this tricky clash where the opponents strength would be in their forwards playing a ten man game.Yarnbury had James Warriner in the second row a willing back row youngster and Russ Gomersall coming into the back row to add some experience.It was the latter who spilled a difficult touchline chance from the kick off that put the Horsforth side under pressure for the first 10 minutes repelling the marauding Wath pack close in and under the leadership of their scrum half veteran Joe B6275415artlett spun the ball wide at the appropriate time to test the Yarnbury backs.However,the defence was admirable and the attacks repelled but kept coming back on the attack.

The first score went to the Horsforth side in their first real decent possession of the ball when wing forward Russ Gomersall back for the first time after the holidays broke clear and with backs pace handed off the defenders to score out wide.Stand Off Daniel Pound could not convert from the touchline.

The majority of the play in the first half was in the Yarnbury territory with occasional break outs down the flanks where wingers Jack Brown and Graham Maycock were making good yardage but the defending took its toll and Yarnbury conceded only two penalties to the boot of stand off Jack Whitlam to go in at 6-5 down.In part due to the sterling effoprt of the whole team in defence stopping the Wath big forwards with good tackling stint.

In the second half Wath took control of the game and continued to have the field position as Yarnbury fought to defend their line with a good tackling stint from hooker Chris Doyle,propLewis Atha and Gomersall and Warriner with second row Paul Kernick and Ian Maycock willing runners.Wath quickly got a score on the board with a push over try to No8 Joe Earp converted by Whitlam and the stand offs long kicks out of defence gained good yardage for the home side.Wath went further ahead to 18-5 with an unconverted try from centre Steve mason who slipped off the defenders with a strong run.Yarnbury came back with a try from full back George Oldridge coming into the line converted by stand off Pound to keep Yarnbury in the game at 18-12 and th home side looked shocked for a while before gathering their momentum and keeping Yarnbury pinned down in the right corner with repeated scrums to keep the pressure on the away side and finally scoring their second pushover try awarded again to No8 Earp.The conversion was missed.

Yarnbury were starved of possession in the final quarter and Full back Tom Quinn scored with a good timed pass to beat the defence and give the home side their fourth try and a bonus point with Whitlam converting from close to the posts.