YARNBURY 44

Ilkley 20

YARNBURY were worthy winners of this entertaining game at Brownberrie Park. A week away from league rugby gave both sides the opportunity to play some expansive open rugby and it was Yarnbury who profitted the most by scoring six tries with a hat-trick from flying winger John Bramham.

Both Bramham and his wing partner Steve Mather are a potent strike force and they used their pace and strength to cause all kinds of problems for the Ilkley defence.

The first-half was dominated for the most part by Ilkley who made early inroads into Yarnbury territory and opened the scoring through Nigel Jenkinson from a rolling maul.

Steve Lee, the Yarnbury skipper, and Justin Hewitt exchanged penalies before Yarnbury started to wake up and play slome enterprising rugby.

Nick Brown picked up from the back of a scrum and after several phases of attack Warren Wilman was on hand to dive over and give Yarnbury a 10-8 lead.

Almost immediately they proceeded to go to sleep again and Ilkley scrum-half Jimmy Carr exploited some poor defensive work to score a try under the posts which Hewitt converted.

Lee replied with a further penalty and before half-time space was created out wide for Bramham to open his account. The sides turned round with Yarnbury in front at 18-15.

Coach Bob Hood clearly expressed his disappointment with Yarnbury's first-half showing which despite flashes of good play lacked in effort and commitment. Ilkley must have fancied their chances of causing an upset but Hood's interval roasting seemed to have the desired effect.

The intensity and tempo of the Yarnbury play increased and the forwards found more cohesion and began driving mauls and running at the spiritted Ilkley defence.

Lee carried out a nice loop with fly-half Steve Galbraith to create space for Bramham's second try and then the forwards decided to show off their domination of the scrummage with a pushover try which became a penalty try as a result of an Ilkley infringement.

From the re-start Yarnbury scored again. A diagonal kick was re-gathered by the charging Mather who danced through several would be tackles to score under the posts. With three Lee conversions Yarnbury had a healthy 39-15 lead with 15 minutes left.

To their credit Ilkley showed resilience and bounced back to score a well-worked consolation try through Kieran Bates. However, Bramham was determined to have the last word and he completed the scoring in injury time after an overlap was created.

Phil Suitton gave a solid performance on his debut at loose head prop and the work of Wilman and Matt Burton was impressive. Dave Hancox showed all the enthusiasm of a Colt and taught his much younger opponent a lesson or two in the scrum. Hancox, who is 47, is helping the first team out in the short term due to injuries to Booth and Smith.

Ilkley A 10

Yarnbury Hornets 55

Yarnbury Hornets travelled to Ilkley and were always in charge. The game started well for the Hornets with Richard Whiteley crossing in the corner. Ilkley replied almost immediately with a penalty.

Adrian Moule made his seasonal debut in the back row for Yarnbury and scored a try in his typical barnstorming style. This was followed by a Simon Briers try after he had sprinted the length of the field to score under the posts. Ilkley scored a well-deserved try after good pressure on the visitors' line.

Andy Cowley, who seems to score at will, hassled his opposite number into an error and pounced on the loose ball to score. This was followed by a good effort from Kris Lilley who converted his own try to leave the half-time score 31-10.

The second-half saw Whiteley score two further tries to round off a well-taken hat-trick. There was another for Briers and a try for Nigel Midwood whose pace saw him leave the home defence for dead.

Yarnbury Fourths 40

Ilkley B 19

This entertaining game saw Yarnbury give a good account of themselves as they defeated Ilkley. New skipper Mark Pennington, back afger a long injury lay-off, opened the scoring and then good handling by the Yarnbury backs saw debutant Peter Baggley score the first of his three tries. Beardow converted.

Yarnbury continued to press and it was not long before Baggley went in for his second.

Ilkley opened their account with a well-taken try but the conversion was missed. More good work from the Yarnbury pack saw Swales drive forward to produce another perfect platform for the back division and evergreen Kevin Robinson put another debutant David Mann through to score with Beardow converting.

With the first-half almost over Baggley scored his third taking two Ilkley defenders with him. Beardow added the extras with another excellent display of touchline kicking.

The second-half saw Yarnbury put under pressure but excellent defence from the back row of Beardow, Lumley and Swales kept Ilkley at bay.

Yarnbury again applied pressure and Beardow picked up and threw a dummy to score untouched. He added the conversion.

Ilkley took another good phase of play to score a well-taken try which was converted before Yarnbury regained control and David Newby scored a fine solo try which Beardow converted. Ilkley had the final say throwing the ball wide from a tap penalty for their winger to step around two defenders and score under the posts. The conversion was added.

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