Roundhegians 25 Yarnbury 19

YARNBURY will be glad to see the back of January after losing four games in a row to lose ground in the Yorkshire Two promotion race.

Their latest defeat came against a Roundhegians side whose form has been the complete opposite. This was their fourth win of 2018.

Yarnbury were without centre James White and prop Lewis Atha so Josh Bateson and John Dodgson came in.

The early stages of the game saw the Yarnbury forwards on top. They secured good field position but good defence from Roundhegians kept them at bay.

Their efforts were finally rewarded when quick ball enabled winger Jack Brown to get over in the corner for an unconverted try.

Rounhegians were struggling to mount pressure but a simple penalty gave scrum half Harry Wollaston the chance to open their account.

As Roundhegians came more into the game they were able to force the Horsforth side back through the strong boot of their stand-off James Dobson.

Quick ball down the right finally created an overlap for full back Jonny Thorpe to score a try.

Thorpe repeated the dose when Yarnbury were reduced to 14 men after left winger Bateson received a yellow card for kicking the ball in a ruck.

The visitors regathered their composure and launched a series of attacks down the middle which resulted in Roundhegians influential number eight Dave Wilson being sin-binned for persistently killing the ball.

Yarnbury saw their chance and kept the pressure on the home line with persistent scrummaging.

At the third attempt they drove the home pack over the line for number eight Martin Rainey to touch down Danny Pound's conversion meant Yarnbury were 13-12 down at the break.

Roundhegians extended their lead early in the second half when centre Elliot Jackson squeezed past the cover on the right to dive over while Bateson was still in the bin.

Yarnbury were winning good ball at the set pieces but their movement of the ball across the park was predictable and at times over-elaborate.

In contrast, the home side took their chances on the breakout with hooker Henry Wareham going over for their final try.

Yarnbury at least secured a losing bonus point when Graham Maycock scored a try after good work by Jimmy Cryan, but Rounhegians were in no mood to surrender their hard-earned win.