Yarnbury....................6

Wheatley Hills.....13

YARNBURY slipped to their third straight defeat and can again feel unlucky not to have come away with a share of the spoils.

A long-range breakaway try in the final few minutes after a charged down kick gave the home side victory. Yarnbury clawed their way back from a 6-0 deficit and looked the more likely side to grab the winning score. Although disappointed Yarnbury can take heart from a more committed performance than in the previous week.

Playing with the wind in the first-half Yarnbury struggled to find any pattern to their play and they were deprived of possession for long periods. The big Wheatley forwards drove the ball in around the fringes and Yarnbury were forced to defend. A penalty goal gave Wheatley the lead after ten minutes when Yarnbury were penalised for offside. There were no further scores in what was a scrappy, error-strewn opening half-hour.

Gradually Yarnbury's forwards began to dominate in the line-out and some possession was able to be used around the midfield areas. Winger John Bramham was sent to the blood bin after breaking his nose in a high tackle. Veteran stalwart Philip Deacon ably covered the right-wing position whilst Bramham received urgent medical assistance. Yarnbury were unable to convert their one scoring opportunity when Steve Galbraith's long-range penalty attempt went narrowly wide.

At the interval Wheatley were clearly the happier side as they now had the elements in their favour.

Coach Bob Hood demanded an increase in effort from the Yarnbury boys in the second-half and he was not to be disappointed. Youngster Lian Rigby replaced experienced line-out specialist Steve Miller, who was forced to retire with a neck injury and Andy Rivett took over responsibility of leading the pack. Despite conceding an early penalty the whole team responded and played with great commitment. The close support play was excellent and they played Wheatley under increasing pressure.

Hooker Philip Wray revelled in his return to first team action and Philip Sutton put some barnstorming tackles round the fringes. Wheatley's discipline began to let them down and they gave away a series of penalties which Galbraith converted into points to bring the sides level at 6-6 with seven minutes remaining.

With momentum going their way and Yarnbury heading up field into the Wheatley Hills '22' Yarnbury looked to attack with their backs. It was then that fate was to work against them and a charge down chip led to a hack through and a breakaway try against the run of play. In the final minutes Yarnbury tried hard to score and both sides became frustrated with the decisions of the referee. A 30-man brawl erupted and the game was concluded in unsavoury circumstances.

l On Saturday Yarnbury entertain Huddersfield YMCA hoping for a change in fortune and a much-needed league victory before the Christmas break.

O Brods A................5

Yarnbury Hornets..10

Yarnbury Hornets travelled to Old Brods in the second team league and were looking to get their season back to winning ways after two successive defeats.

Playing on a sloping pitch Yarnbury won the toss and elected to play up the hill in the first-half. The early encounters were even with Brods piling on the pressure down the hill but being unable to breach a stout Yarnbury defence and indeed it was the Hornets who drew first blood when Brods strayed offside to allow stand-off Duncan Ogilvie, back after a back injury, to slot over the three-pointer.

This stirred Old Brods into action and after some good work from the forwards, their left-winger skirted around Yarnbury's wide defence to score.

Almost immediately Yarnbury replied with a try, Ogilvie breaking the would-be tackle of his opposite number, fed Peter Craven, who was caught just short of the line, but able to off-load the ball to skipper Neil Pennington, who drove over. Ogilvie converted to make the score 10-5 to the visitors at half-time.

With the advantage of the slope in the second-half Yarnbury should have seen off Brods, but their stubbornness and Yarnbury's lack of killer instinct saw for an exciting half with everything but a score.

Alex Laycock went close for Yarnbury, after being driven over, only to be held up. Brods broke away for what looked like a certain score but Yarnbury's back row hero Gareth Jones hunted the winger down to stop what was a definite try.

This was a better performance helped by the return of Steff Patterson and Ogilvie at half-back, Yarnbury must now build on this for the remainder of the season.

Old Brods Thirds.........5

Yarnbury Thirds........15

Yarnbury Thirds enjoyed a good win at Yorkshire One hosts Old Brods. With the wholesale changes from the last outing Yarnbury blended old with new. As John Haigh, John Chapman, John Dodgson, Peter Wright, Steve Higham and Tristan Bainbridge all making their Third team debuts, and Bruce Johnson-Laird, back after his County duties, gave the visitors the advantage in the youth factor.

However, playing against the wind and up the hill in the first-half, the visitors were soon under the cosh and found themselves 5-0 down after ten minutes but after some rousing encouragement from captain Matthew Brown, the forwards soon took control and started punching holes through the home side's defence and on the stroke of half-time Darren Foster powered over to leave the score 5-5 at the break.

The second-half started slowly for the visitors who seemed to relax because they were playing with the wind and the slope and it wasn't until second row/full-back John Haigh burst through to take a well-timed pass from Mike Malone to give the visitors a 10-5 advantage. The score remained the same until Darren Lewis scored a superb try from broken play to give the visitors a 15-5 victory.

Old Leos U-8s.........0

Yarnbury U-8s......40

With a solid defensive line Yarnbury were able to turn plenty of good possession into points with tries from Jo Roche (3), George Oldridge (2), William Griffiths and Christopher Noble.

Old Leos U-7s.........20

Yarnbury U-7s........35

The youngest players of Yarnbury excelled in the sunshine, playing excellent rugby, with tries from George Oldridge (2), Arron Roebuck (2), Daniel Burnside (2) and William Giffiths.

Old Leos U-12s.........0

Yarnbury U-12s......47

Yarnbury were faced with the daunting task of playing uphill in the first-half. But with the sun on their backs the Yarnbury pack dominated played with strong probing runs and ferocious tackling.

Prop Rachael Barker opened the scoring forcing her way over for a fine try, which was closely followed by hooker Jack Riley crossing for the first of his two tries.

In the second-half, with a good supply of second phase ball from the forwards, led by Man-of-the- Match Alex Robinson, the Yarnbury backs came into their own running the ball downhill. Further tries came from Jonathan Turpin, Alex Robinson and two from Mathew Horsley with Paul Downes kicking six conversions.

Old Leos U-10s.........10

Yarnbury U-10s.......10

In the first of two matches Leos used the slope across the pitch to come back at Yarnbury and level the scores after Michael Everson and Ben Hague had scored for Yarnbury.

Old Leos U-10s..........0

Yarnbury U-10s.......30

In the second match Yarnbury awake to Leos tactics tackled them out of the game and ran in six tries without reply, with Stephen Nolson (2), Ben Whitfield (2), Lewis Cooper and Ben Hague.