Yarnbury 17

Ashington 0

AFTER a 'blip' at Westoe last Saturday, North East Three League leaders Yarnbury got themselves back on track and back to winning ways with a comfortable 17-0 victory at home to Ashington on Saturday.

Facing a strong wind the Horsforth boys contained their visitors in the first-half with some ease. Returning scrum-half and Man-of-the-Match Andy Cowley caused havoc in the Ashington defence with a number of sniping runs throughout the game and made life easy for his forwards with some crunching tackles around the fringes.

Hooker Martin Booth led his pack from the front and Yarnbury tucked the ball up their jumpers, spending long periods of time camped in their opposition's half.

To their frustration, however, the home side was unable to turn pressure into points, and with Ashington unable to mount any sustained pressure whatsoever, the teams turned round without troubling the scoreboard.

The second-half was a totally different affair. With a strong wind now at their backs, and feeling that they were obviously the better side, Yarnbury cut loose. The second-half was only five minutes old, in fact, when the home side scored a peach of a try. Turning over Ashington ball on their own 22, Yarnbury's back row fliers Warren Wilman and Martin Rivett, made a break for the half-way line before finding scrum-half Cowley in support.

Quick hands through centres Steve Riley and Andy Marshall gave winger Steve Reed space to work in and, with two men still to beat and 30 yards still to go, he made the job look easy and completed a beautiful 70-yard try. Fly-half Steve Galbraith added the extras to give Yarnbury a 7-0 lead.

With confidence now flowing, the Horsforth outfit took the game to Ashington and it was only a matter of time before the next try came. On the stroke of 60 minutes, and at an Ashington ruck on the halfway line, Yarnbury's pack leader Martin Booth suddenly popped up with the ball undetected by the visiting defence and sauntered in for an amazing 50-yard try. Unfortunately Galbraith missed the conversion and Yarnbury entered the last quarter with a 12-0 lead.

With the game now lost, the visitors became fractious and, in an unsightly incident, Yarnbury's second rower Chris Wray had to leave the field with a bad cut following a cheap shot from his opposite number.

The contest was in danger of becoming a boxing match rather than a rugby match in the last quarter. However, centre Steve Riley took the remaining sting out of the Ashington boys with a nice solo effort from 25 yards out. A fine try for the meaty centre made up for a woeful penalty attempt in the first-half which failed to get off the ground. Yarnbury then played the game out in their opponent's half and ran out comfortable winners against opposition who had won their previous three league matches.

With six league games remaining Yarnbury now sit four points clear at the top of North East Three, having played one game more than second placed Westoe.

With fate in their own hands, the Horsforth outfit will be looking to keep the league pressure on when they entertain Leeds neighbours Roundhegians at Brownberrie Park on Saturday, kick-off 2.15pm.

Yarnbury Hornets....6

Wheatley Hills........18

Yarnbury Hornets found themselves on the wrong side of a hard-fought game against North east OLne vsiitores Wjheatlkey Hills.

Yarnbury had wind advanbtage inthe first-half and unfortuantelky could not convertmearly pressure, Kris Lilley kicked two penalti4s to givebthem a sicx point lead but on the stroike of half-time Wheatlkey;s far bigger pack pushed theb home pack over froma five metre scrum and to add insult to injury the try was well converted leaving Yarnbury 7-6 in arrears.

The second-half saw thye vsiitors mark their authority on the game with the wind at their backs they pinned the home side in their own 22 for much of the half and it was not lonhg before the Wheatleynbpressure poaid off and the kicked two penalties to give themselves a seven point advantage.# Yarnbury;s spirit was tgood and they were undeterred as they chased the game from deep inside their own half.

#Due to their never-say-dire attitude thgey scored. Wheatley HGills added a try for an 18-6 win.

l On Saturday the Hoirnbets hopemto get back to winning ways wehgen they play local rivals Roundhegians.

Yarnbury Nomads......30

Wheatley Hills............14

The Nomads continued their winning ways applying pressure from the start. Fast hands along the backs and a cheeky pass inside from Pennington allowed Dave Hornby an easy stroll for the first try after four minutes.

Beardow added the conversion and then a similar move saw Paul Trigg on the end of Pennington's pass to crash over.

Expecting a mass of points against them Hills tightened up their defence leaving Yarnbury with only a 12 point advantage at the break.

Hills started the second-half with more commitment and after three minutes exploited poor Yarnbury defence with a try under the posts.

The Nomads' defence started to work overtime, especially Brotherton who made some stunning tackles. Beardow capitalised from some Hills indiscipline and slotted over two easy penalties to give Nomads an 18-7 advantage.

In the final 20 minutes Yarnbury pinned their opponents to the try line. Fred Harrison made inroads from a scrum to feed Brotherton who scored his first try for Yarnbury. Beardow added the conversion.

Hills came straight back with some strong running through the centres. A complacent back line put up no defence and allowed a very easy try for the visitors. In the dying seconds Brotherton rampaged down the wing to score his second try to secure a clear win for the persistent Nomads.

Malton U-17s.........10

Yarnbury U-17s.....28

Despite lacking four first choice players who were on duty with Yorkshire Yarnbury under-17s gave a solid, all-round display to continue their impressive season.

In this excellent away win over a strong Malton side centre Joe Dodds opened the scoring before Malton hit back with two tries. The hard working pack led by hooker James Grundy gradually established control and a typical powerful drive by prop Adam Pike pulled Yarnbury level.

A further penalty by Ray Wong gave them a 13-10 half-time lead.

Following a period of tight play a try from Will Aird pushed Yarnbury ahead with another penalty and an outstanding solo try from Wing, who also converted, finishing the scoring.

This display showed the depth of talent Yarnbury have in Steve Miller's squad.

The four Yarnbury players in the Yorkshire squad are scrum-half Mike Aspinall, flanker Andy Keegan, centre Simon Threlfall and hooker Bruce Johnston Laird.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.