Yorkshire Division Three: Baildon 3 Harrogate Pythons 17

ALTHOUGH there was no lack of effort or pride in the shirt, Baildon paid for foul play, retaliation and talking back to the referee.  

With Storm Brian in full force, Baildon played the first half up the slope and into the wind, conceding an immediate penalty for being in front of the kicker in this Yorkshire Division Three clash.

Pythons took advantage, pinning the home side into their own 22, but great defence kept them out for the opening 20 minutes.

Baildon then lost Josh Strauss to concussion and Tom Massey and Matt Withers to yellow cards before conceding the first try when they simply ran out of numbers. 

The hosts, who included debutant Zac Orrell and lively scrum half Ollie Williams, were urged on by veteran Phil Wilson and pulled back three points via a Matty Robinson penalty after Pythons illegally killed the ball.

They looked like having an 8-5 interval lead, only for a Dan Fletcher try to be ruled out for a marginal forward pass, but Baildon were back to a full complement for the start of the second half, and had the wind and slope in their favour.

Robinson hit the post with a penalty as the wind picked up, but Baildon lost Josh Bull to a red card for punching after a fracas with 30 minutes left.

The home side, who were a man light in the scrum, conceded a pushover try, which was converted, and Pythons also scored an unconverted try after moving the ball through several phases before shipping it wide.