Yarnbury 32 vs Barnsley 7

Barnsley’s poor start to 2014 continued at Yarnbury where the home side pressed its claim to promotion with a comprehensive victory against an inexperienced and depleted Barnsley. Barnsley welcomed Jeff Watt back into the pack, with Dave Read filling the hole left by Robbo’s departure to Scotland. A further leakage occurred during the week when Andy Buckingham returned to his original club Sandal, and Arron Gaunt ruled himself out for the rest of the season with a serious injury. Paddy Jensen is away working, but Rob Jeffery came in on the bench.
The game was played in miserable conditions, a cold wind behind the home side in the first half, and it took them little time to take a two try lead, with strong attacks beating inconsistent tackling and slow cover. Yarnbury were well generalled by Paterson at 10, calling the shots and controlling the play. They also held passes more frequently than Barnsley, but both sides were guilty of poor technical skills.
Finally the Barnsley pack got into the game, forcing the home team onto the defensive and an excellent break out among the backs was only stopped by some cynical play which resulted in a penalty try to close the gap to 12-7. Barnsley had to defend their line, and showed determination but when they gained possession, the ball was moved too slowly and too predictably, allowing the Yarnbury defence to resist, and sometimes turn the ball over when a pass was dropped or the ball lost in the tackle.
Mid game injuries to both Tyler Smith and James Proctor further hindered the team though both remained on the field, showing the effort and determination that was just about keeping Barnsley in the game. Half time 17-7.
The second half saw the introduction of Jeffery, and immediately he showed what hard tackling and strong running can do, but the home side were resolute in defence, and cashed in on a number of Barnsley errors to take the ball upfield. Once or twice, Barnsley made space for themselves, but poor kicking and passing gave possession away. There were whole hearted tackles to save the line from several, including Joe Taylor and Jack Iles, but the visiting team was too often on the back foot to get into the game, and when in possession their game plan was not visible to the visiting supporters. Kicks were charged down, passes missed and Yarnbury did some simple things well. Gradually, they drew ahead, taking the ball half the length of the pitch after a Barnsley error and adding to their tally. They scored some good tries and kicked intelligently to put the match well beyond Barnsley with a final score of 32-7.
There is no doubting the effort and commitment of this inexperienced Barnsley back line – and the forwards too need to look after the ball better than at this fixture. Another tough away game waits next week, and hopefully some changes can be made quickly in order to halt this decline.