Barnsley made it back to back wins in another tight encounter at the foot of Yorkshire 3 but finished this one feeling proud, and in good playing style, in contrast to the sheer relief at full time the previous week.

West Park Leeds started quite brightly and made apparent their willingness to run the ball. Barnsley defended well but errors and penalties kept most of the play within sight of their goal with WPL missing a kickable penalty to squander the first chance of points.

Barnsley were always dangerous outside of their 10,Tai was took meters out of his opposite number both with and without the ball to put him on alert in Barnsley’s first forays into WPL territory. A reasonable kick from WPL looked a good option at first but Edge was strong under pressure and Beck moved the ball quickly, Hardwick burst through powerfully to exploit the disjointed chase and then bounced off a head on tackler to go clear. He drew most of the possible cover before passing to Adam Edwards, on an excellent support line against the grain, giving the remaining defence no opportunity. He duly converted the try for 7-3.

WPL almost hit back instantly, a terrible kick chase was carved through by their 10 and he was hauled down short. Barnsley made several interventions to regain possession but kept making errors or conceding penalties that prevented them truly clearing their lines. With penalty advantage, WPL chose to hoist one high, horrible for the retreating defence, Lau almost intervened but the WPL winger did brilliantly to gather and offload near the line to give their centre a chance to canter in to score. 7-10

Barnsley forced a penalty of their own and Hyde kicked them to 35m out. Reed bounced one and drew two having received the ball following a slick line out, Adam Edwards tracked Reed all the way and burst onto a pass from him, surging to the line again evading several would be tacklers and Barnsley were back ahead 12-10 to the good.

Hyde made a clean break with the half approaching and threaded an excellent kick towards the corner. Tai couldn’t quite gather under pressure for a score to take them clear. Barnsley remained in scoring distance but WPL just got out of the half without conceding again.

Half time – 12 -10

The 2nd period was just as cagey as was very much reminiscent of the previous week. Barnsley couldn’t control the ball for long enough and were repeatedly penalised at the breakdown. The returning Hobson was part of a rolling front row effort with Davis, Edge, Green, Marrison and Hatfield that began to exert some dominance at scrum time to back up a solid lineout showing.

After an uneventful first 10 minutes of the half Barnsley rung the changes with Jack Edwards, Ryan Taylor and Joe Taylor entering proceedings

Unfortunately Barnsley showed more of the tendency to play the ball too deep, combined with the penalties at the ruck, this invited more WPL pressure that duly told. First via a converted try after they overturned a scrum in the Barnsley 22 and then a penalty from yet another breakdown infringement and suddenly it was 12-20.

Then came the most impressive act of the match, the Barnsley fightback. Jack Edwards and Ryan Taylor were energetic and busily added impetus to the backs and pack respectively. The relentless Eaden came into his own as other players began to tire. Barnsley made several bursts and a kickable penalty spilt the posts from Hyde for 15-20.

Copley, Dyson and Hardwick all added to their meters and Reed consistently saw off the first tackler. Suddenly the pressure intensified and it was Barnsley that had good position and penalty advantage. Hyde stepped and kicked low towards the corner and Joe Taylor did incredibly well to outmuscle two defenders and claim the ball by the flag. He showed incredible clarity of thought to burst away from them and to the posts, rather than drop where he was, to make the crucial conversion a gimmie for Hyde. 22-20.

Barnsley saw out the win with some solid defence. Henighan, Eaden and Taylor all industrious to ensure WPL had no further sight. of the line before Copley and Hyde showed great strength to stand up a runner on the last play and kill the ball. WPL were certainly deserving of their losing bonus point and Barnsley perhaps a little frustrated not to have scored more.

Another narrow win for the Griffins but more clear improvement and a 4th positive performance in a row. The teams next goal must be to earn a bonus point as part of a winning effort. If they can shore up their ball retention and territory issues, this team looks dangerous.

Coach Thomas Kittrick Quote

“We are heading in the right direction, but we must be smarter, have more discipline, cut the penalties as we are just inviting pressure too often. The positive is we are now getting the results and grinding it out but we certainly could make it easier for ourselves. Lots more work to do.”

Report crafted by Chris Beck