Yarnbury 15 Bradford Salem 3

Yarnbury gave some of their second teamers the chance to shine and they took their opportunities with open hands.

The Horsforth side selected former York player James Rich, Jack Butler and scrum half Oliver Cashman as a new back row combination and it worked well.

They gave their side some go forward and aggression which was a marked change from the recent league defeat against Salem.

Yarnbury started in determined fashion with good runs from wingers Graham Maycock and Elis Gomersall.

It was good to see Gomersall fielding kicks and running them back to make ground.

Yarnbury stand off Carl Paterson was aware of the danger posed by the speedy Tony Williams so he repeatedly kicked long down the opposite wing.

From the pressure he created, Paterson opened the scoring with a penalty for Yarnbury. It was a reward for their early efforts.

The Yarnbury side also managed to hold out in defence with great covering from Cashman and Butler when Salem enjoyed their best spell of the game, The boot of Paterson was also useful in relieving pressure.

Yarnbury were playing with authority and determination. They were making Salem work for their field position and found themselves on the opposition 22 metre line with the put in at the scrum.

From the feed scrum half Mark Dixon jinked left and beat the defence for a try which was superbly converted from out wide by Paterson who was kicking into the breeze.

The first half revealed Yarnbury to be a transformed side from the previous two weeks.

The pack was foraging and getting the backs on the front foot to attack the opposition.

No8 Ian Moule was wisely pick ing up at the back of the scrums when pressure came from the Salem eight.

The second half saw Salem exert pressure through their pack on the home side.

Stand off Mark Barlow reduced the deficit with a penalty with Yarnbury killing the ball but the resultant pressure.

Unlike the recent league game, there was no burst of scoring this time.

The work of the Yarnbury forwards and the kicking of Paterson kept them on the front foot.

Paterson got the backs running at the Bradford defence and good breaks were made particularly by centre Lee Mortimer who seems to be growing with confidence in each match.

The game was settled with a sweet run by substitute winger Stuart Wilson.

He beat two men to score out wide on the left after being put away by a slick pass from full back Andy Greaves.

Salem’s pack then disintegrated as their discipline crumbled leaving the home side with several gains from their efforts and selection headaches for the tough home league fixture with Barnsley.