Baildon 10 Old Rishworthians 3

Under-strength Baildon put together a stirring performance yesterday to maintain an unbeaten SSE Yorkshire Division Three home record which stretches back almost 12 months.

Despite being without key players Nick and Hayden Lister, flanker Johny Picken and second row Matthew Atkinson, the Jenny Laners recovered from the disappointment of losing to Rotherham Phoenix the previous week with a determined defensive display which moved them up a place to second in the table

Early pressure on the hosts' line eventually led to a penalty which put the visitors 3-0 ahead on 28 minutes.

However, Baildon's pack, which was superbly led by 46-year-old Andy Pollard, managed to pin Rishworthians on their line shortly afterwards.

After several surges by his pack, prop Adam Hewitt, only playing due to a knee operation being postponed last week, forced his way over to the left of the posts, allowing fly half Jake Duxbury the simple task of tagging on the extras to give Baildon a 7-3 lead at the break.

A tightly contested, attritional second half between two evenly-matched teams with well organised defences had very few try-scoring opportunites.

Jake Duxbury gave his side a seven-point cushion after a penalty success on 75 minutes but Baildon had to survive several waves of Rishworthians attacks in the final minutes to record a gritty and well- deserved victory.