Yarnbury 1st XV v Halifax Vandals 1st XV

Yarnbury were without influential backs and forwards for the visit of Halifax and had to do without experienced centre James White.Joe Pinnick deputising..Josh Bateson was replaced on the wing by Ben Meays due to injury last week.Yarnbury welcomed back prop Lewis Atha from injury in the front row.John Dodgson going to the bench.After recent defeats Yarnbury were again on the training pitch due to the inclement weather.

The home side were quickly into their stride and put their opponents under severe pressure with the defence holding firm but straying offside after five minutes in the middle of the park and from a quick tap penalty scrum half Nathan Benton forced himself over the line for the first try .Stand Off Danny Pound converting from close in.From the restart Yarnbury were awarded a penalty for offside to continue the pressure and good controlled ball was being won by the pack as the Halifax side was stretched from side to side across the field.The back row were prominent in stopping the Vandals making any ground with Joe Bennett and his fellow back row partners George Bowen and Jimmy Cryan cutting down any yardage with hard tackling stint.
Unfortunately, with their first real breakout Halifax Vandals scored a breakaway try in strange circumstances.Yarnbury were attacking in the middle of the field when the the away side tackled centre and captain Jason Avison and seemed to knock the ball forward ten yards in the tackle but play was allowed to go on and prop Paul Jowitt touched down under the posts for Tom Crowther to convert and bring the away side back into the game.

Yarnbury pressed again with No8 Jimmy Cryan going over the line but knocked on stretching for the touch down.Danny Pound charged down a kick out but the ball ran loose into touch.The home side were reduced to fourteen men when centre Joe Pinnick was binned for a high tackle.A good attack and break down the left by full back George Oldridge was stopped short and several lateral attacks were stopped by the opposition.Vandals took the lead with an unconverted try by left winger Tom Crowther before half time.

Yarnbury immediately regained the lead on the restart through centre Jason Avison who took a quick pass and cut through the Vandals defence as he did in the away fixture earlier in the season.Pound converting.

On fifty two minutes Cameron Newby was brought on at scrum half and Benton eventually back on in the centre and Yarnbury had their best spell of the game full back George Oldridge coming into the line but the try was missed close in. A break from newby down the right was quickly moved on down the left putting wing Graham maycock into space for the third try before a high tackle gave Pound a chance to extend the lead with a penalty and the fourth and bunus point try went to Pinnick who smartly tapped the ball inside to touch down round the back of the Halifax full back.Although George Bowen was man of the match the whole pack deserved credit for a strong game which gave a good platform for the backs to score the four tries.With Thornensians at Horsforth next week Yarnbury could be back upto third in the table on this showing.