YARNBURY 20
WESTOE 18
TWO league matches in 1999 played, two league matches won. Yarnbury continued their good start to the New Year with an impressive performance at home against promotion contenders Westoe.
Having been walloped up in South Shields before Christmas the Horsforth outfit gained revenge over the north east opposition with a gritty and committed display.
A performance laced with aggressive gain line defence won the day with prop Andy Rivett, hooker Martin Booth and flanker Sean Craven leading the way with some huge tackles driving the bigger Westoe pack back time and again.
The Westoe line-out, such a dominant feature in their home game, was nullified by a magnificent performance from Yarnbury's Lian Rigby and Matthew Burton. The Yarnbury scrum was also a major factor in the win.
Yarnbury had started poorly but they eventually gained good first phase possession and with space to exploit the veteran fly-half put in a delightful chip and winger John Bramham won the race to the line.
Minutes later Yarnbury went 10-3 up when the ball again found its way to the speedy Bramham and he chipped over to run on and again win the race. This lead was short lived as Wetoe pegged them back with a penalty and turned round 10-6 down at the break.
Westoe then gained the upperhand and Ian Whitehurst had a kick charged down once again - this time with dire consequences. Westoe picked up the loose ball to score and the simple conversion put them 13-10 ahead.
Another mix-up in the Yarnbury defence produced another loose ball and it seemed that the game was lost at 18-10.
Skipper Steve Lee gave his side heart with a long range penalty and with five points in it the game moved into the last 15 minutes.
Yarnbury pressed and under instense pressure Westoe cracked and conceded a penalty.
Lee's kick fell short and to the disbelief of everyone the Westoe flanker caught the ball on his own line and stood rooted to the spot.
Seemingly unable to move he watched the whole of the Yarnbury team bear down on him and he was smashed over his own line.
The home side were given renewed hope and the referee awarded a five yard scrum in their favour.
With the seconds ticking away it was time for scrummaging lynchpin Craig Holgate to prove his worth and along with front row colleagues Booth and Rivett he drove Westoe back towards their own line. As the Westoe defence prepared themselves to defend the expected lunge for the line from No 8 Wayne Butterfield scrum-half and skipper Steve Lee suddenly picked up and darted between two tacklers to touchdown for a marvellous score.
Having levelled the scores Lee somehow managed to keep his composure for the conversion which gave Yarnbury a slender 20-18 lead.
Fighting to keep their promotion position Westoe returned to the Yarnbury half with a vengeance and for the last ten minutes pounded the Yarnbury defence who stood firm and for once so did their discipline.
Westoe were not given a sniff of the Yarnbury try line nor were they given the opportunity to kick at goal. Yarnbury earned themselves a victory to be proud of and two much needed league points.
Having allayed all relegation worries Yarnbury can now look forward to improving their mid-table position.
Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.
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