Otley 7

A WELL drilled Yarnbury side outplayed Otley to lift the Sulzer Roteq Services Aire-Wharfe Cup for the third time in four years before a crowd of about 300 at Brownberrie Park on Monday night, writes Barrie Pennett.

It was a cold, damp, misty evening and the pitch was greasy and heavy as the two teams took the field.

But it was Yarnbury who adapted themselves better to the conditions and it was quite obvious from the start they were determined and in the mood to win the match. And that is what they did with relative ease.

They outjumped Otley in the line-outs where Liam Rigby and Michael Burton were often prominent. In addition Yarnbury's pack out-pushed and out-manouvred Otley's eight in the set scrums.

Their tackling and cover work was first rate and they moved the ball with assurance.

Yarnbury had a sound half-back pair in scrum-half and skipper Steve Lee and fly-half Ian Whitehurst.

Whitehurst, a former Otley player, was in form with his kicking and proved to be a thorn in Otley's side. He constantly pegged back Otley with some astute kicking for touch.

Otley, who fielded a mixed bag of players with only centre Mark Billington being an established first team squad player, paid dearly for their lack of discipline. They took a long time to settle down, were disjointed and lacked penetration until late in the game. Their handling was disappointing and their passing, at times, was poor.

Within 15 minutes Yarnbury had scored a try.

They won a scrum near Otley's line, held the ball in the back row and pushed Otley over their line for scrum-half Steve Lee to touch down. He also added the goal points to give the home side a 7-0 lead.

Later in the half Otley were penalised for leaning in the line-out and Lee kicked a penalty to give Yarnbury a 10-0 lead at the interval.

In the second-half Yarnbury were awarded a penalty try when they drove Otley back near their line. Steve Kershaw, the Otley scrum-half, tried to kill the ball and referee Don Helme (Central Yorks Society) awarded a penalty try which Lee converted to give Yarnbury a 17-0 lead.

Full-back Damian Kershaw had an opportunity to put Otley on the score sheet but his kick for goal was wide. Late in the game lock Matt Lonsdale barged his way over for a consolation try following a tap penalty. Kershaw converted with a well placed kick.

Yarnbury's No 8 Butterfield was the pick of the pack. With five minutes to go to final whistle Yarnbury decided to give all their subs a chance with Paul Trigg, Steve Galbraith, Sean Craven, Adrian Moule, Paul Booth and Kris Lilley all running on to the field together.

Steve Lee received the Aire-Wharfe Cup and there was a runners-up plaque for Otley.

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