Bridlington 1st XV v Yarnbury 1st XV

Bridlington 48-7 Yarnbury – Yorks 1 League

Yarnbury had a much changed pack for the visit to the league leaders in North Yorkshire ,really the last thing that was needed against a strong Bridlington Team currently out in front in Yorkshire One.Influential second row James Falgate and back row Tom Holden have added much strong go forward to Yarnbury over recent weeks and where bulk would be helpful both absent with injuries and unavailability.Dave Penman continued in the front row with Lewis Atha and John Dodgson on the bench.N. Benton came in at short notice at scrum half and Oliver Cashman provided cover from the bench along with the returning Lee Mortimer for the three quarters.

Yarnbury put themselves under pressure in their own 22 metre area from the kick off letting the kick go into touch to give the attacking incentive to the home side and for the fist fifteen minutes spent defending their own line well and retaining their structure across the park before an infringement gave winger Steve Mellonby a penalty to open the scoring before he was put in on the sort side by close passing for an unconverted try.Yarnbury were competing well with limited ball in the second stage and had good runs from full back Will Marshall hauled down short and also wingers Jack Brown and Alex Clark but without sufficient back up to take on the ball further.Forced passes resulted in advantage to the league leaders and they scored a second try by prop Paddy Waines after good support play.Mellonby converting.

Yarnbury then had their best passage of play and from a penalty and line out a planned move put leading try scorer Jack Brown through a gap and his pace easily outpaced the flat footed defence and with full back Will Marshall converting put Yarnbury back briefly in the game. Bridlington got back in gear and immediately went down the field for winger Will Davies to score. and Mellonby to convert for a 22-7 half time score and Yarnbury still in the game.

The second half was competitive but with the league leaders always taking advantage of Yarnbury when the away side forced a forward pass or kicked into touch to bring play back to the offence and give easy possession to the home side Stand Off Matthew Welch was a constant threat with ball in hand or kicking astutely to keep the pressure on Yarnbury .Substitute John Dodgson came on in the second row and Oliver Cashman at scrum half and Lee Mortimer for Alex Clark on the wing after Bridlington had extended their lead with two tries just after half time by New Zealand prop Ryan Nepia and another for Mellonby outflanking the cover defence.

Yarnbury defence never stopped trying but Yarnbury were opened up by good back up play from a confident Bridlington outfit despite the efforts of Captain and Centre Jason Avison with some good second half breaks.The two final tries were disappointing from the Horsforth sides point of view as cover was stretched towards the end of the match with New Zealand fly half Matt Welch going over under the posts and finally on the final whistle No8 Callum Sanderson on the end of a grubber kick which should have been cleared.

Yarnbury ex-players and old boys reunion is taking place on Saturday 26th November from 2pm. .The 'old boys' will be the match sponsor for the 1st team game against Bradford Salem.It will be great afternoon of catching up on old times, sharing past experiences and a few beers!The game kicks off at 2.15pm.