West Leeds 14, Yarnbury 19:YARNBURY extended their unbeaten run to 15 games and moved into the quarter-finals of the Yorkshire Shield with an under-par performance at West Leeds on Saturday. Against a committed and well-prepared home side the Horsforth outfit came away with a 19-15 victory in what turned out to be a very close and tense derby match.

West Leeds opened the scoring with a penalty after ten minutes. Yarnbury's fly-half Steve Galbraith, after missing a three point opportunity, then levelled from short range shortly afterwards. The two sides wrestled for dominance and exchanged a further penalty each before Yarnbury pulled away shortly before half-time.

From set piece ball a planned move straight from the training ground saw full-back Steve Mather join the line and carve open the home defence. Two side-steps and some 35 yards later, Mather touched down to give the visitors a five point lead which was extended to ten points by a Galbraith conversion and penalty on the half-time whistle.

Turning round at 16-6 in front, the Horsforth outfit completely lost their grip on the game as the home side came out with all guns blazing. A penalty reduced Yarnbury's lead to 16-9 and, as the game entered the last quarter, West Leeds' pressure was rewarded with a beautiful winger's try, equally as good as that scored by Yarnbury in the first-half.

With scores at 16-14 the game entered the final tense last ten minutes. Both sides fought for that one final score that would seal the game. The Horsforth side eventually awoke from their slumber at this point and began to add some control to their possession. Gaining territory via their forwards, and No 8 Ian Moule in particular, Yarnbury set up the field position that allowed Galbraith to drop a goal and relieve the pressure.

As the final whistle blew a relieved Yarnbury side, despite progressing into the last eight in the competition, were left to reflect on one of their poorest performances this season. This week the Horsforth outfit will need to lift their game several levels when they return to their league programme at home to a resurgent Selby on Saturday.

Wheatley Hills A 8

Hornets 23

THE Hornets produced an excellent performance last Saturday to record a superb league victory away to a strong Wheatley Hills side. Matters were not helped when Yarnbury only had 12 players two hours before kick-off but this spurred the team into a performance of which they should be proud.

It was the Hornets who took the lead with a well struck penalty from full-back Dave Newby. Yarnbury then took full control with one of the tries of the season. Back-row Molly Malone picked up loose ball at the back of the line just inside the Yarnbury half and fed fly-half Kris Lilley, who broke through the Wheatley defence on an excellent 50 yard run. As the cover defence came across Lilley flicked the ball inside to supporting centre Sean Craven, who in turn fed Malone, to finish the move he had started by going in under the posts. Newby knocked over the extras to give the Hornets a deserved 10-0 lead.

Almost immediately Yarnbury shot themselves in the foot as they let Wheatley in for a soft try straight from the kick-off which let the home side back into the game. With the conversion missed the sides went in at half-time with the score at 10-5 and everything to play for.

The opening exchanges of the second-half would be crucial with Yarnbury needing to dig deep if they were to record a victory. Excellent defence at the start of the half kept Wheatley out and the crunching tackling of the tireless pack started to take its toll on Wheatley.

On their first excursion to the Wheatley 22 of the second-half Yarnbury's efforts gained them reward. Lilley took a quick tap penalty to send in back-row Andy Evans with a well-timed pass.

Newby converted and added a penalty to put the visitors 20-8 up. With the clock ticking down, Lilley added a drop-goal to leave the hosts needing at least three scores to take anything from the game.

A fine team performance from the Hornets.

Yarnbury Thirds 0

Wheatley Hills 5

WITH the first team at West Leeds, it was left to the Third team to entertain the small but select home crowd. The game was played in heavy conditions which restricted the open running play, with Fred Parks scoring the only try.

Wheatley Hills, for their part, played some good powerful rugby, but were unable to break down an aggressive home defence.