Wibsey Warriors 14, West Bowling 10

Two lightning strikes out wide proved crucial as Wibsey outflanked arch-rivals West Bowling at Northfield Road to claim a berth in the semi-finals of the Hamuel Reichenbacher Yorkshire Cup.

Bowling made all the early running in the home red zone with an abundance of possession but they could not break down the strong Warriors defence that refused to yield in the face of a real battering.

Wibsey gained due reward on their first visit into Bowling territory when scrum half Luke Helliwell hoisted a precision kick to the right touchline and centre Nick Fontaine collected cleanly in heavy traffic to plant the ball over the whitewash.

Bowling fell further behind midway through the opening half when the hosts’ speedy handling created a narrow gap to send wingman Jimmy Rodgers tiptoeing down the wing to squeeze in at the corner flag, once again too far out for Helliwell to convert.

The sides’ keen rivalry exceeded the boundaries when Wibsey substitute packman Kyle Bateman was sent to the sin bin after giving opposite number Elliot Cousins a facial.

Bowling quickly capitalised on their superior numbers when second-row forward Jack Milburn took on the home rear-guard to crash over for an unconverted effort.

Player parity was restored when Bowling stand-off Aidy Leek also received a yellow card for a swinging haymaker that thankfully missed its target.

And when Warriors half-back Ryan Smith was held up over the line, the referee decided to call time on the bruising first stanza with the score at 8-4.

Bateman came back into the action, ensuring West’s had to pull out all the stops to prevent him grounding the ball.

But the all-important try of the tie came on the hour mark when prop forward Ross Simpson barged his way over the chalk at the side of the posts to leave Helliwell a simple conversion.

The penalty count rapidly increased in Bowling’s favour by a ratio of 2:1 but they continued to rely on a tap-and-run policy, rather than kick for touch.

But all the ball possession finally bore fruit when scrum half Liam Coe ran across the defence and quickly changed direction to duck under the tackles and touch down with panache.

Coe also added the extra two points to set the scene for a cracking finish.

Wibsey were forced to concede a goalline drop-out as West’s looked menacing but the final hurrah sounded for the visitors when they dropped the ball for the last scrum.

This left the Warriors to celebrate a well-deserved victory and a semi-final trip to Thornhill Trojans.