WEST LEEDS 19

YARNBURY 29

YARNBURY reached the final of the Yorkshire Shield for the first time in almost 10 years when they beat West Leeds on Saturday. Having won on the road throughout the competition the Horsforth outfit again had to win away and did so with a try count of 5-2 in their favour.

In the final Yarnbury will take on Huddersfield YMCA, who triumphed 25-9 over Ilkley in the other semi-final.

The final will be on March 29 at a venue yet to be finalised.

Huddersgfield YMCA are the most successful side in Yorkshire this season.

In front of a partisan crowd Yarnbury launched themselves into the match from the opening whistle and caught the home side napping when No 8 Mark Cooper charged down the attempted clearance from Steve Galbraith's kick-off.

As the ball rebounded back into play a fumble by the home side gave Yarnbury a scrum five yards out.

Led by pulsating powerhouse props Craig Holgate and Johnny Stephenson and big hooker Andy Rivett Yarnbury drove West Leeds back at an unnerving rate.

With Cooper just about to touch down the West Leeds defence caved in and the referee awarded a penalty try.

Galbraith slotted over the conversion to give his side a 7-0 lead inside two minutes.

Yarnbury then conceded a penalty but stormed back with Martin Johnson latching on to a loose ball to race 30 yards to score under the posts.

Incredibly Galbraith missed the conversion so Yarnbury led 12-3 after 10 minutes.

A stunned home crowd watched in disbelief as their forwards were torn apart by a rampant Yarnbury pack.

Matthew Burton was dominating line-out ball and the Horsforth pack was able to shove their opposite numbers off their own scrum ball almost at will.

Under such intense pressure it was not long before West Leeds succumbed again and conceded a try when No 8 Cooper touched down for a pushover try.

Galbraith missed a more difficult conversion but Yarnbury were 14 points to the good.

With their visitors relaxing somewhat the West Leeds pack to their credit pulled themselves together and scored a nicely worked try through second row Chris Taylor.

Yarnbury, stung by this score, went straight back into West Leeds territory and it was not long before Galbraith danced over the line. Unfortunately he again failed with the conversion attempt and Yarnbury turned round with only a 22-8 lead despite a try count of four to one.

In the second-half Yarnbury went to sleep and with the crowd roaring them on the home side took advantage to score a try through Scott Evans.

Uncharacteristically the Horsforth outfit then lost their self-discipline allowing fly-half Dave Breakwell to slot over two long range penalties for West Leeds.

Second row Steve Miller then left the field with an injured back and was replaced by Chris Wray as the game entered the final quarter with Yarnbury holding a slender 22-19 lead.

Yarnbury got themselves back into gear and after a period of pressure veteran centre Andy Marshall skipped through to score under the posts .

This time Galbraith was successful with the kick giving his side a 10 point lead and a place in the final against Huddersfield YMCA - victors over Ilkley.

The Yarnbury back row of Cooper, Martin Rivett and Wayne Butterfield worked tirelessly throughout and a fine team performance in the opening 30 minutes should have set the foundation for a comprehensive victory.

A 40 minute period of mediocrity however allowed West Leeds to stay in the match and very nearly cause an upset.

l On Saturday Yarnbury return to league action when they travel to Thornensians and their objective, as well as two league points, will be to put in a full 80 minutes performance.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.