Yarnbury 28 Middlesbrough 13

With these teams both in the top four of the division the game was eagerly awaited by a big crowd for the first visit of this club who lorded it over The RFU in the 60’s through the 80’s with internationals like Alan Old Stand Off for England and others.Both Clubs were founder members of The RFU founded in 1872 so a rich history between them even if over the last few years ‘The Boro’ have suffered due to schools in the North East tending to go for football rather than Rugby.

For this match Yarnbury welcomed Jack Myerscough onto the wing and Toby Brown started at prop with John Dodgson rotating on the bench.Yarnbury pack was strong as usual and took control of the game from the start with all decisions going for them with the referee totally in command for most of the half.Pressure early on from the pack saw the North Yorkshire side in disarray and wing forward Joe Bennett took over three defenders to touch down from close in Carl Paterson converting after 9 minutes.

Good back play got winger Alex Clark away but he was well tackled by Joe Bircham the Boro’ full back to save a certain try.Yarnbury were soon back attacking as the rampant pack took control Ian Maycock and James Barrett winning numerous line outs on their own feed and the oppositionsand hooker Tom Gilcrist and back row Jimmy Cryan making the hard yards.However it was second row Maycock who burst from a ruck to run 15 metres and touch down and was on the end of a classy forwards move started by centre Ben Horner deep in his own half that saw clever inter passing between the pack for Maycock to take the plaudits in finishing off the move for his brace after 30 minutes following the earlier score on 19 minutes.Paterson duly converted and 21-0 looked like the beginning of a rout.Middlesborough gathered themselves and put on forward pressure towards the end of the half and got on the scoreboard with a Joe Bircham penalty when looking for a try made more sense.

In the second half Middlesborough started with a further Bircham penalty to reduce the arrears to fifteen points when it was expected that Yarnbury would ‘kick on for a hatful of tries.Not so.Indeed the game deteriorated with 13 penalties given against the home side for not rolling away at the ruck and possession went to Middlesborough and with it attacking advantage.Time and again it looked a matter of time before they would score tries but magnificent defence throughout the team was impressive with forwards and backs dropping attackers with last ditch tackles.Yarnbury at home are a well organised side and it was not until the 78th minute that Rob Bellerby the Boro’ centre broke through for a score converted by Bircham.

It would have been a travesty of justice for Yarnbury not to take their try scoring tall to four and a bonus point until late on winger james Myerscough took a rebound to race away for the try from the halfway line and Paterson to do the honours.Yarnbury swopped places with their opponents now sitting in an impressive third spot in the league.##

Yarnbury hornets looked impressive when letting a lead slip to draw at Otley Saracens 24-24.Yarnbury 3rds won convincingly 59-5 at Wetherby 3rds to take their unbeaten run this season to thirteen games while the fourths did not have a fixture the fifths went to Skipton 3rds and won convincingly 46-21 young 17 year old Will Marshall making his senior debut from full back with a try whilst playing with three generation's of the Riley family.