Baildon win Yorkshire Silver Trophy in season to savour

Baildon wrapped up the most successful season in their history by adding the Yorkshire Silver Trophy to the Leeds Tens and the RFU Junior Vase to their haul of silverware at Pontefract RUFC today.

The Jenny Laners were on the offensive from the kick- off and, despite some tenacious tackling, Baildon fly half Jake Duxbury unlocked the Thornensians defence with an intelligent kick through which full back Nicky Lister pounced on to cross in the right corner after 15 minutes.

Duxbury was again involved in Baildon’s second try when his attempted drop goal was charged down under the posts, only for the ball to drop favourably to Lister, who darted over from five yards to grab his brace on 26 minutes.

Baildon’s defence, which has been the backbone of their success all season, was put to the test after they were reduced to 14 men following the sin-binning of Danny Pollard on 33 minutes for a dangerous tackle.

However, with flanker Jonny Picken, prop Pete Lowth and centre Marcus Dracup tackling everything, the Jenny Laners repelled wave after wave of Thornensians pressure and even-tually turned ball over in their own 22 to release left winger JJ O’Connell.

This caused the retreating Thorne defenders to infringe at the ruck, giving Duxbury a penalty opportunity which the 17-year-old took to nudge Baildon 13-0 ahead on 39 minutes.

Another superbly-struck Duxbury penalty in first- half injury-time from inside his own half gave the Jenny Laners a 16-0 lead.

The second half continued in the same vein, with Baildon’s fitter pack dominating possession and territory.

Thorne infringements led to further penalty successes to Duxbury on 42 and 58 minutes, and by that point the Jenny Laners were threatening to overrun the game.

However, a late rally saw the South Yorkshire side cross the whitewash to give them a consolation try in injury time.

But by then Dave Duxbury’s team had done more than enough to secure a deserved win and lift the Silver Trophy for the first time since beating Wibsey at Wagon Lane in 1999.