A TRIO of tries from Josh Bateson helped Yarnbury hold on and beat West Park Leeds 29-26 at home to move nine points clear of their rivals in Yorkshire Two.

The home side laid down a marker immediately and crossed for the first try in the opening minute from the West Park kick off. They worked the ball through the backs down the right and fast hands saw Bateson score near the posts.

Park countered after Yarnbury were penalised, which led to centre Alastair Hughes getting over the whitewash.

The hosts soon resumed their command with the pack dominant at this stage, and getting good ball for the backs made space out right for winger Bateson to go in for his second try on the overlap.

The Horsforth side were giving away cheap field position with successive penalties and the away side capitalised with Hughes grabbing his brace by going through a gap after stout Yarnbury defence, leaving the score at 14-12.

Yarnbury pulled away again running the ball out of defence and George Bowen backed up a sweeping run from centre James Endersby.

The 12th-placed team extended their lead further when a superb planned move brought in Bateson on the burst to score without a hand placed on the hat-trick hero.

A blow to the bottom club in the league and a bonus point for Yarnbury with this fourth try already in the bag.

The high tenacity of this local derby meant that both sides were intense in their rugby looking for local bragging rights but it was the home side who took the plaudits going into the break at 29 -12.

The second half was a much more competitive affair and started in disastrous fashion for the hosts as they lost two of their established forwards. Lewis Atha and Tom Goldthorpe clashed with each other.

Despite Yarnbury holding out until the final moments, Park still managed to score two late tries. Substitute Sam Board crashing over from close range after sustained forward pressure and Luke Gamble doing the same with the last play of the match.

Both were converted to give the away side two well-earned points from a game that threatened to go away from them.