Yarnbury beat Bramley

WITH only a couple of matches remaining in the 1997-8 league season a relegation threatened Bramley side visited Yarnbury desperate to take the spoils and secure another season in North East Division Three. However, a faultless display of goalkicking by Yarnbury scrum-half Steve Lee sealed their fate plunging them deeper into the relegation zone.

Following a poor opening five minutes the Yarnbury pack fired into action and led by hooker Andy Rivett stormed up the pitch and once in the strike zone pounded the Bramley line. They gained the inevitable penalty and instead of taking three easy points Lee took a quick tap penalty and popped a short ball to prop Johnny Stephenson who was not to be denied from five yards barging over with four defenders clinging to him. Lee converted for a 7-0 lead.

A Bramley penalty was countered by one from Lee but for the remainder of the half neither side could find the spark of inspiration needed to break the opposition down. At half-time it was 10-3 to Yarnbury.

With their relegation worries increasing Bramley started the second-half more lively and took the game to the home side and they exploited an overlap to score a try. Minutes later a penalty put them ahead by one point.

Yarnbury picked up their game and rose to the challenge and replacement Dave Roberts and Paul Trigg led the fightback. Two Lee penalties put the home side back in front with 10 minutes remaining and fly-half Ian Whitehurst maintained the pressure with some astute tactical kicking,.

Pinning Bramley down in their own 22 the Yarnbury back row of Simon Green, Wayne Butterfield and Martin Rivett presented their backs with quality ball. Full-back Billy Thompson burst into the line at pace and touched down to guarantee victory. Lee put the final nail in Bramley's coffin by slotting over the conversion for a personal tally of 13 points.

For the first time since January 3 Yarnbury do not have a cup or league fixture this weekend and with the Yorkshire Shield final on the horizon they will perhaps take the opportunity to rest a few players when they travel to Old Otliensians.

Beverley 15 Yarnbury Hornets 74

With the conditions ideal for open rugby Yarnbury Hornets played North East One outfit Beverley at the famous Beever Park.

The Hornets showed several changes with players returning from injury and they started at a fast pace scoring tries through Paul Jones and Phil Adams with Bryan Lilley converting the last try.

The Hornets' pack started to dominate with second row man Simon Watkins using his experience to dominate the lines. Excellent scrummaging led to a second try for Jones who streaked,in from 40 yards for Lilley to convert.

Beverley's winger then got a brilliant try but Hornets responded through powerhouse Daz Foster who drove over from 20 yards.

Lilley again converted and with half-time approaching Adams scored the second of what was to be a hat-trick.

With his usual rousing team talk at half-time skipper S Craven led by example scoring the first try of the half from 30 yards.

An injury to Lilley saw Brier take his place and he scored a well-worked try which Galbraith converted.

Further excellent tries from Matthew Foster, Cowley and Adams took the Hornets into an unasailable lead but Beverley never gave up and scored late on.

This was an excellent win for Hornets who put in one of the best displays of open rugby this season.

Phil Adams deserves special mention for his hat-trick and for being voted Rear-of-the-Match by Beverley's army of female fans!

Yarnbury B 34 Beverley B 23

Yarnbury thirds returned to winning ways with an impressive win over Beverley. Despite facing opposition from a higher league Yarnbury showed they could mix it with the best.

After going 7-0 down they rallied and Barry Walsh scooted over for Dave Newby to convert. Some adventurous back play saw fly-half Steff Clooney ghost his way through to score a brilliant individual try and again Newby converted.

Beverley kicked two penalties to keep themselves in the game but a second-half try from Dan Bleakman converted by Newby put the result beyond doubt.

Newby kicked two further penalties before finishing off a brilliant team try and his conversion took his personal tally to 19.

Beverley scored a late try and penalty to make the final result closer.

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