Leos 1st XV v Yarnbury 1st XV

Leodensians 8 – 12 Yarnbury – Yorks League 2

The side saw the return of Captain Jason Avison in the centre and Josh Bateson on the left wing while the pack had a settled look about it only hooker Chris Doyle missing off the teamsheet .Pete Tennant coming in off the bench.The first quarter saw Yarnbury probing for openings and making numerous breaks in the backs which Leodensians fould hard to stem but managed good last ditch defence making it hard for the Horsforth side to score the tries which looked like coming but never materialised.Mainly,due to final passes going astray with the line beckoning or mistakes around the five metre line gifting the home side relief from the pressure.Maybe the bright sunshine in the faces was a factor after ten minutes a clean breakthrough by the backs put winger Jack Brown in the clear but the inside pass went down from supporting open side wing forward George Bowen as he crossed the line.No problem,great position supporting for the impressive back row surely other opportunities would come for the league leaders.

Another attahk saw a knock on near the opponents linefollowed by another knock on the 5 metre line when a try seemed certain.Then lateral slow ball to Jack Brown saw the winger bundled into touch.This was followed by a 5 metre line out after the home side were penalised for killing the ball but the dependable line outs normally the order of things went wrong.An impressive counter from full back George Oldridge ghosting through several players put captain and centre Jason Avison through for a try on 21 minutes which was not converted by stand off Jarrod Huss put Yarnbury in front as was expected and surely with all the pressure would go on and score 4/5 tries.Not to be.Full back George Oldridge again made a break from defence ghosting through defenders as though they were not there only to run into traffic with support on both sides.

Yarnbury were caught holding onto the ball when Leos finally got on the attack and stand off Ed Farmer slotted the three points.From the kick off second row James Falgate caught the Huss drop out and the ball was knocked on and again the ball was dropped with another attack and the line approaching. Leos managed a break on the blind side but luckily winger Max Seers was bundled into touch.A half which the home side managed to stay in the game but could have been down and out.

With a strong side on the park and experience of top quality in key positions from Dave Barden at No8 (ex Bees back row ) and the excellent stand off Ed Farmer running and kicking well Leos lowly league position looked wrong as their confidence grew seeing Yarnbury waste so many opportunties.The Horsforth side made the necessary changes bringing on Josh Bell at full back and Martin Rainey in the back row for the injured Jimmy Cryan but nothing seemed to work in trying to construct further points as the line out deteriorated to add further pressure on the league leaders.Yarnbury maybe off form in attack but the defence was impressive until 10 minutes from the end when right winger Jim Langtree put the home side in front with a solo effort down the wing evading three would be tacklers to score .Surely such a performance would see a first defeat for Yarnbury but Leos were undone by the Yarnbury pack at the death after referee Mike Dickinson had enough of the home side killing the ball as Yarnbury went for the win.Taking a scrum when the penalty was awarded they drove to the line and were awarded a penalty try to take a win and the four points to maintain the unbeaten league run.With a free weekend next week a rest is needed to recouperate for further contests in the remaining weeks before the first half of the season is complete.