North Ribblesdale 27 – 13 Yarnbury

match report by John Rawson

North Ribblesdale 27 – 13 Yarnbury

Yarnbury were changed again for this fixture missing experienced front five players due to injuries and work committments.The team needed further re-organisation when influential second rows Ian Maycock and James Falgate were unavailable.Yarnbury are blessed with many young players willing to fill in in different positions but in the engine room sometimes it is necessary to have extra bulk to ensure go – forward ball.In to the wind Yarnbury were in command for most of the first half and defended well accross the field even though they were under pressure in the scrums which required some re-organisation to steady their own ball but in the main they restricted the opposition to a three point penalty from stand off Michael Thwaite.

yarnbury backs looked dangerous with the ball out wide and good runs by Will Marshall and wingers Josh Bateson and Kyle McCauley gained good ground but the home defence stood firm.Successive penalties were squandered on the five metre line when line out’s were lost and the home side defended well across the park.Unfortunatley Yarnbury gave away too many penalties in a scrappy first half where neither side looked like getting over the try line.All changed in the final minutes of the first half when Yarnbury were penalised under their own posts for for killing the ball on a couple of occasions and the influential forward No8 Jimmy Cryan went to the bin.Up to that point the Yarnbury scrums managed to cope with some changes to the format and the introduction of hooker Chris Doyle and hooker Tom Gilcrist moving over to prop.However,a man down at this stage saw the inevitable with the North Ribblesdale pack driving over for the opening try on the break converted by Thwaite.

The second half saw Yarnbury quick out of the blocks with an excellent counter the backs spreading the ball left up the slope at pace and swift hands and interchange between full back Will Marshall and centre Josh Bell cut the Ribblesdale defence for once and the return pass to Bell saw Yarnbury score under the posts to silence the home support and with stand off Danny Pound converting got the Horsforth side back in the game. Penalties were exchanged for both sides and Yarnbury were on level terms at 13-13.

Wing forward Will Booth found space to crash over on 50 minutes for an unconverted try to Ribblesdale but Yarnbury were always in the game but could not fashion and opening and lost crutial line outs when on the attack whilst Ribblesdale converted their chances with two more tries from centre Matt Speres and Hooker and Captain Ian Close to close out a win for the home side.

All credit to a young side who never gave up and pushed the home side all the way for eighty minutes .However,need back some experience for the next match.