Yarnbury v Ripon

Yarnbury maintained their unbeaten run with a frustrating win at home to Ripon punctuated by poor play on both sides and a lack of recent cohesion due to the many changes made from recent games.The lineout did not function for the majority of the game as in previous encounters fortunately the opponents did not have the ability to take advantage of this situation in a drab game of rugby.

Yarnbury made eight changes to this game following the previous weeks battle against South Yorkshire Opposition.Young Kieran McCauley was drafted in at full back and versatile Nathan Benton filled in in the centre for injured James Endersby.Lewis Atha returned at prop for injured Pete Tennant and the back five in the pack were changed around due to injuries to second row James Falgate and No8 Jimmy Cryan.With all the changes the side may have looked experimental but it showed once again the defensive organisation throughout to control the opposition.A credit to Coach Bob Hood’s organisation.

Yarnbury started the game in to a breeze and Ripon withstood the earlier home sides pressure but the breakthrough came on 7 minutes with an inter play down the left put wing forward clear on 22 metres to score and go round under the posts for stand off Danny Pound to convert.Ripon attacked the Yarnbury half and were immediately awarded a penalty for offside slotted over by stand off for Ripon Sam Pillar to show Yarnbury were not going to have it all their own way this afternoon!

Sign’s of things to come shortly after saw Yarnbury squander a great opportunity on 5 metres after being awarded a penalty kicked for position when the subsequent line out failed and the opportunity was lost.Amends were made in attack soon after as the backs moved quick attacking ball and created some space and wing Josh bell did the rest stepping insode and down the middle to score a well constructed try under the sticks converted by Pound to open a gap in the game.Again Yarnbury could not keep down the opponents as centre Tommy Newby saw space as defenders stood off to get over the line when he should have not been allowed to run Tom Leeming converting.Just before half time Yarnbury broke out from their own half but were stopped short of the try line without adding to their lead.

The second half was only 5 minutes old and Centre and Captain broke the defensive line and went over unopposed for Yarnbury’s third try ut it was not converted by Pound in the difficult wind but at least opened a two score cushion for the home side.Despite a yellow card for the Ripon back row and then on 68 minutes for the Yarnbury Captain no side could get further dominance as the game petered out without Yarnbury looking likely to get a bonus point for a fourth try and Ripon trying to get a loosing bonus point with another score.The points were the most important factor for the Horsforth side on this afternoon with all the changes and with a blank league weekend next week injuries have a chance to heal for further contests in February.