Yorkshire Division Three: Baildon 15 Leeds Modernians 22

OLD Modernians, under former coach Adam Faulkner, have become a bogey side for Baildon.

As this was a re-arranged match, both teams were missing key players - Mods mostly due to a stag do and Baildon mostly due to a trip to Dublin.

For the first ten minutes, it was all Old Modernians, but for the next hour it was all Baildon.

Then inexplicably, the hosts pressed the self-destruct button in the final ten minutes.

Mod were in front almost immediately, with their outside centre strolling through a massive gap in the Baildon defence to score under the posts, but the missed conversion underlined a crucial Mods absentee.

Baildon responded well, with the line-out functioning well, with Matt Fox and Zack Orrell securing ball and Matt Withers using his boot to put them in the right parts of the field.

Baildon earned a penalty when a Mods player failed to roll away from a ruck, and the home side opted to kick to the corner.

A back of the line peel set up ruck ball,and Ollie Williams fed Guy Price, who went over in the corner.

Will Tomlinson chopped down every Mods opponent who ran at him, and when Baildon secured turnover ball they executed some beautiful rugby, with great offloads that the visitors could only stop by infringing.

Baildon also had the nudge in the scrums, but the Mods pack avoided the penalties that a retreating pack usually suffers.

Marcus Dracup then pounced on Mods ball from a retreating scrum and did win a penalty, which was quickly tapped, and a further penalty gave Williams at easy shot at goal, which he accepted to make it 8-5.

Almost on half-time, Harrison Strauss forced a turnover and broke a tackle before releasing Dan Fletcher for a 50-metre run in, with no Mods player at home.

Williams added the extras to make the interval score 15-5, and Baildon took up in the second half where they left off in the first.

Adam France almost scored when put in by Fletcher, but knocked on at the crucial moment,while Dracup's tackling was destructive, and Tom Cluett and Withers continued to kick with intelligence.

With ten minutes on the clock, the referee spoke to both sides about appealing for decisions, and warned that further attempts by players to referee the game would result in yellow cards.

Almost the very next move a penalty was awarded to loud appeals from Mods players that one of their players had been held back as Baildon kicked through towards the visitors' line.

With eight minutes remaining, Baildon went into their shells and stopped competing.

In a move with two flat passes, either of which might well have been judged forward, Mods crossed to bring the match to a one-score game at 15-10.

Then Baildon started to give away penaltiesm and one was quickly tapped for the next try as all of the momentum was with Mods.

Their last try was a comedy of errors. A shocking clearance kick and equally awful tackling gifted them the score and, to rub salt in, the Mods kicker, who had been off target all match, put the conversion over from the touchline.

In the dying moments, Baildon pressed and were awarded a penalty for accidental offside. There was time for the line-out, but Baildon ended with a splutter.

Ironically, the losing bonus point, after three successive wins, moved Baildon to only three points from safety as both of their closest rivals near the bottom lost.