Moortown Festival

First test was posed by a well organised and determined Yarnbury side that were quick out of the blocks and put Morley under pressure in the first few minutes of the game resulting in two tries. That seemed to wake the boys up and they came back into it with a strong run by Joseph Pyett from the re-start setting up a period of sustained pressure that they couldn’t quite translate into a try due to a well organised and strong Yarnbury defence. Nathan Boote then made a great break down the wing from a line out but he was just bundled into touch by a determined tackle. Yarnbury then broke away to score a third try making it 3-0 at half time.

The second half saw the Morley forwards, Mathew Gilman, James Binney, Jack Gilmartin and Joseph Pyett have more success at the breakdown with Ben Yates showing some strong running from the back, but it wasn’t long before Yarnbury broke the Morley line to go 4 up. Owen Newsome came on to add some attacking threat and a mazy run from scrum half Ed Brown pulled a try back for Morley before Yarnbury upped their game again running in two more tries despite some determined tackling from David Black, Jack Coates and Matthew Beaven.

Second up was Harrogate and with two evenly matched sides, the game could have gone either way. Morley had some good possession early on with Matthew Ainley being quick into the tackle to keep the pressure on but it was Harrogate’s speedy winger who scored first with a break from his own half. The same player scored again shortly after and it was clear Morley had to close him down more quickly. The half finished with a great move all along the line involving Ethan Robertson, Jamie Silkstone, Dylan Bowness and Owen Newsome but he was just bundled into touch by a Harrogate tackler.

At the start of the second half, a strong run from Archie Horsfield, who had great success all day at the breakdown and was well supported in the forward line by jack Briggs, created an opening for Jamie Silkstone to pounce on the loose ball and dive over in the corner to bring Morley back to within one try. The Morley scrum was getting on top with Joe Stead providing the drive to win a couple against the head but the speed of the Harrogate winger again proved too much for Morley as he broke away after a cleverly taken short line out for his third try. A period of sustained pressure from Morley followed and was eventually rewarded when scrum half Ethan Robertson’s powerful run ended in a well deserved try. Morley couldn’t quite convert further pressure into points and the match ended 3 tries to two in Harrogate’s favour.

A very strong Otley side came next and the first half was pretty even with both sides showing good aggression and despite some strong tackling from Ben Armitage and Matthew Ainley, Otley went into the break one try to nil to the good. Otley came out stronger in the second half and went two nil up with a quick try. Morley made a couple of promising breaks but some great Otley defence soon stifled them and they won some good turnover ball to score their third and decisive try.

All credit to Otley who had an excellent all round game with some great tackling from all the team and a real attacking threat.

The final two games against Moortown and Leos proved more fruitful for Morley. A great performance and a brace of tries by William Kinder topped off a terrific team performance against Leos with Morley running out 6 – 2 winners. A hat trick by Nathan Boote was the difference in a 4 – 3 win over Moortown with two of the tries coming after great moves involving all the team. Joe Pyatt and Archie Horsfield were great at the breakdown denying Moortown any opportunity to launch attacks and great Morley defence ensured Moortown couldn’t breach the line to tie the game.

Overall, a demanding day but plenty positives to build on for the rest of the season.