Yarnbury 15 Roundhegians 8

Yarnbury gave their Yorkshire Division Two promotion hopes a boost with a hard-earned win in their first game of the New Year.

The result also gives them a lift ahead of Saturday’s clash with fourth-placed Barnsley at Brownberrie Lane.

With a number of first team players unavailable, Yarnbury had to reshuffle their side.

Skipper Oliver Cashman moved into the back row with Stuart Wilson deputising at scrum half, while prop Guy Hawkridge and inside centre Rob Rigby came into the starting line up.

Yarnbury had a breeze in their favour for the first half and were soon on the attack through the boot of stand-off Carl Paterson.

The pressure was rewarded with an early score. It looked as if the chance had gone when Roundhegians won tapped ball at the line-out after Yarnbury had kicked a penalty to the corner, but hooker Tom Gilchrist reacted quickly to pounce for a try.

The Horsforth side went further ahead when Hawkridge scored his first try for the first team after a sweeping move.

Yarnbury squandered a number of promising positions by losing the ball at attacking line-outs.

They also found themselves being penalised by exchange referee Tom Ferridge (London Society).

The home side were forced to defend stoutly as the determined Roundhegians applied the pressure at the start of the second half.

Cashman was sin binned for an accidental trip near the line after just two minutes and second row Adam Batson also received a yellow card for preventing what looked a certain Roundhegians try.

Down to 13 men, Yarnbury conceded a pushover try to No.8 Liam Blakely.

It was the only score while they were two men short.

The referee continued to hand out yellow cards with the visitors having a man punished for killing the ball before Yarnbury’s Cryan was sent to the sin bin for pulling down a maul.

The introduction of replacement Stephen Riley proved timely. He brought much-needed steadiness and calm to turn the game.

Firstly quick ball got centre Jason Avison away wide right but his charge for the posts was stopped short. The referee could have easily given a penalty try for interference but the resulting penalty failed to bring a score.

Riley then glided through a gap in the middle of the park to give Avison a run to the line for the decisive try.

Yarnbury Hornets won 44-15 away to Roundhegians 2nds in the Merit Table. Alex Clark scored a hat-trick while returning centre Eddie Van Heel ran in two tries. Centre Graham Maycock, prop John Dodgson and Danny Pound weighed in with one each. Pound added two conversions and a penalty.