Barnsley 10 vs Yarnbury 12

A smaller than usual crowd turned up on a drab day in March, and enjoyed a close call which could have been won by either side. Yarnbury looked the more assured throughout, especially with Patterson managing the strategy behind the forwards, but Barnsley’s pack, admirably led by the industrious Reed, gained a slight advantage for sufficient time to keep them in the game, and indeed at the end almost snatch a victory.
After a free week, Barnsley had Proctor at scrum half with Beck on the wing, and Jordan Wood strengthened the pack. The game began badly for the home side, when the Yarnbury backs moved the ball wide at pace to create an overlap and score a converted try within the first few minutes. Good defensive work by Bagnall aided by Appleyard kept the visitors out a second time but it was Barnsley who scored next.
For once, Appleyard side stepped the tackles to make space for Peel coming on at pace. Peel kicked ahead and just when it seemed a little too far, Taylor raced ahead of his opposite number to score a great try. To help matters further, the conversion went in off the post and scores were level. Soon after, we saw the best and the worst of Barnsley when Josh Smith ran 20 metres to catch a high ball, and then the same player missed a critical tackle – he was not the only one – to let Yarnbury retake the lead.
Haynes took over from Watt, but the Barnsley line out was not functioning well. Some overthrowing, and some poor timing gave away good positions too frequently, and the hard work of both forwards and backs was undone. By now as half time approached Barnsley had sharpened defensively with Andrew Smith doing really well in the centre and Bagnall all over the field. Late in the half, Louw gave Wood a break and Jensen came on for Peel.
The second half saw much exciting play from both teams, with Yarnbury working their backs, and Barnsley ploughing forward. An early penalty well struck by Appleyard put Barnsley within two points, but the lack of fire power was not helping. Yarnbury had a spell when they dominated up front, and it needed the return of Naisby and Wood and Watt to steady the ship and then regain the upper hand. Appleyard had another chance at a long range penalty, but was a little short, and tempers began to fray on both sides. The referee had to speak with the captains, and a further pause came when a Yarnbury player was hurt and had to be stretchered off. (We wish him well).
Both sides threatened, but Yarnbury seemed to want to close the game down rather than go for the tries, while the home team fought for the winning score. Tempers boiled over again – not much more than handbags at first –but when several players from both teams joined in, the referee decided that time was up and ended the game. This left a frustrated Barnsley to rue their mad moments and Yarnbury were satisfied with a win that keeps their promotion hopes alive. To be fair, they will need to play better than this in Yorks 1, but they may well have their mind on promotion AND a trip to Twickenham soon- we wish them every success!
Proctor had a really promising game at scrum half, firing the ball out effectively for Appleyard and we look forward to more running among the backs at Baildon Moor next Saturday.