YARNBURY were knocked out of the National Cup Regional after suffering a 27-23 defeat to Wetherby at Grange Park.

The visitors had beaten their inner city rivals the previous week in Yorkshire League 2 action to move five points clear, however they could not repeat that feat in the cup.

Wetherby started on the front foot after returning second row Ian Maycock uncharacteristically knocked on from the kick off, leading to Yarnbury facing double figures in phases to stop the Wetherby big forwards from getting the opening score.

The danger seemed to have passed until the home side found space out wide left for winger Andy Trotman to go over in the corner.

The away side equalised through a route one try by full back Josh Bateson, which Danny Pound converted.

Wetherby's Harry Kaye slotted a straight forward penalty before a quick ball to the right gave tricky winger Josh Bell a chance to weave his way through several defenders to score on the left.

After the break, Yarnbury pulled further away with two penalties from stand off Pound, making the difference to 10 points.

Eventually, Wetherby's pack started to show their dominance in the scrummage, forcing prop Lewis Atha to be placed in the sin bin, and they were awarded seven points as the referee awarded a penalty try to bring them back in to contention.

The pressure was now on the Horsforth side to hold on for the win as they were running everything including penalties in an effort to find space against bigger less mobile opponents.

Yarnbury did find a way to extend their advantage when substitute centre James White found space to touchdown.

The lead stood at eight points until the final 10 minutes when the hosts went all out for the victory, starting with prop Mattie Chappell going over unopposed for an unconverted try.

The visitors resisted the attacking scrummage but after several phases their defence was seized by wing forward James Greenwood, who managed to touch down under the posts despite courageous hits in the tackle to settle the tie.

Yarnbury resume their league campaign on Saturday when they travel to sixth-placed Wensleydale, while Wetherby host title contenders Old Rishworthians.