Yarnbury 29 Halifax Vandals 12

YARNBURY ended their losing run and registered their first Yorkshire Two win of 2018 at Brownberrie Lane.

The bad weather meant that they again had to play on their practice pitch, but they adapted well.

Centre James White and winger Josh Bateson were missing so Joe Pinnick and Ben Meays deputised. Prop Lewis Atha returned with the experienced John Dodgson dropping to the bench.

The home side were quickly into their stride and put their opponents under severe pressure.

They were rewarded for their enterprise when scrum half Nathan Benton forced his way over for a try from a quickly-taken penalty. Stand-off Danny Pound added the conversion.

Yarnbury continued to press with Joe Bennett and his back row partners George Bowen and Jimmy Cryan working hard.

It came as a shock to the home side when Halifax Vandals scored a breakaway try in strange circumstances.

Yarnbury were attacking in the middle of the field when captain Jason Avison was tackled and the ball looked to be knocked forward by Vandals.

Play was allowed to go on and prop Paul Jowitt touched down under the posts for Tom Crowther to convert and level the scores.

Yarnbury pressed again but Cryan knocked on stretching for a touchdown.

The Horsforth side were reduced to 14 men when centre Joe Pinnick was binned for a high tackle.

Full back George Oldridge was tackled just short of the line and several lateral attacks were stopped by the opposition before the Vandals took the lead with an unconverted try by left winger Crowther.

Yarnbury hit back through skipper Avison who took a quick pass and cut through the Vandals defence for a try which Pound converted.

Cameron Newby was brought on at scrum half and Benton eventually returned at centre as Yarnbury had their best spell of the game.

A break from Newby down the right was quickly moved on before left winger Graham Maycock was put into space for the third try.

A high tackle gave Pound a chance to extend the lead with a penalty.

The bonus-point try went to Pinnick who smartly tapped the ball inside to touch down round the back of the Halifax full back.

Although Bowen was man of the match the whole pack deserved credit for a strong game which gave a good platform for the backs to score the four tries.

With Thornensians at Horsforth this week, Yarnbury could be back up to third in the table with a win.