Wath-upon-Dearne 30 Yarnbury 12

YARNBURY face a critical home game against Barnsley on Saturday as they look to get their Yorkshire Two promotion bid back on track.

This was their second-successive defeat and again the lack of poundage in the pack proved to be a heavy burden.

Wath’s success owed much to the strong ten-man game they played on the back of their forward dominance.

Yarnbury were missing influential second row James Falgate and pack leader and number eight Jimmy Cryan.

They had young back row forward James Warriner playing at lock while the experienced Russ Gomersall was brought in at flanker.

Wath put the visitors under pressure from the start with scrum half Joe Bartlett pulling the strings.

Solid defence kept them at bay and it was against the run of play that Yarnbury scored the first points.

Gomersall broke clear and with good pace he handed off the defenders to score out wide.

Stand-off Daniel Pound could not convert from the touchline.

The majority of the play in the first half was in Yarnbury territory with occasional break outs down the flanks where wingers Jack Brown and Graham Maycock were making good yardage but the defending took its toll.

Yarnbury conceded two penalties which stand-off Jack Whitlam kicked to give Wath a 6-5 lead.

The home side took control of the game after the break and continued to have the field position as Yarnbury fought to defend their line.

Hooker Chris Doyle, prop Lewis Atha and Gomersall put in good tackling stints.

Wath quickly got a score on the board with a pushover try by number eight Joe Earp which was converted by Whitlam.

The stand-off’s long kicks out of defence gained good yardage for the home side and Wath went further ahead with an unconverted try from centre Steve Mason.

Yarnbury came back with a try from full back George Oldridge which was converted by Pound to keep Yarnbury in the game at 18-12.

The home side looked shocked for a while before gathering their momentum and keeping Yarnbury pinned down in the right corner with repeated scrums.

The pressure told and finally Earp increased the lead with a second pushover try.

Yarnbury were starved of possession in the final quarter and full back Tom Quinn scored from a well-timed pass.

It gave the home side their fourth try and a bonus point with Whitlam converting to complete the scoring.

Yarnbury are hoping for good support for Saturday’s home game with Barnsley. They are holding a players reunion before the game at 1pm. All Yarnbury players are welcome.