Yarnbury 23 Old Brodleians 11

NEWLY-promoted Yarnbury made a good start to life in Yorkshire One with victory over the team that finished fourth last season.

If it is an accurate indicator of what lies ahead then the signs are encouraging for the Brownberrie Lane outfit.

Yarnbury’s team showed six changes from the one that played at Twickenham in the RFU Senior Vase final.

Eddie Van Heel was back in the inside centre spot and Henry Griffiths, back from Loughborough University, in the second row.

Stand-off Carl Paterson moved to full back to accommodate Nathan Benton while Ben Horner played on the wing.

Returning Andy Van Heel was the back row replacement and joining him on the bench was prop Guy Hawkridge.

Yarnbury immediately tested the away side with powerful scrummaging and won a great deal of ball.

Winger Alex Clark was adjudged to have dropped the ball over the line before Brodleians opened the scoring from their first attack when full back Danny Wood kicked a penalty.

Paterson levelled the scores with a penalty, but it seemed scant reward for their domination.

Yarnbury were throwing everything into attack and Brods countered well down the flanks to relieve the pressure.

From a breakout the visitors went ahead again with a second Wood penalty.

The advantage was stretched to eight points when a dropped ball resulted in a try for winger Eddie Carter.

The second half started in similar fashion and finally the pressure told. A catch and drive from a line-out brought a try for for No8 James Barrett. Paterson landed the awkward conversion.

Horner switched to inside centre and Lee Mortimer was introduced on the win after Eddie Van Heel suffered a leg injury.

His brother Andy was brought on in the back row after a great physical stint from Joe Bennett.

The speedy Van Heel then pounced on a ball following another weak scrum from Brods to set up good possession for Yarnbury.

Good handling saw Paterson score and convert to give Yarnbury the lead.

He followed up by breaking the tiring defence again for a second try which he converted himself for a personal haul of 18 points.

Yarnbury Hornets made it a double with a 37-0 win away to Brodleians second string. They scored five tries

Unfortunately the third team had a walkover with Bradford and Bingley seconds who could not raise a side for the fixture.