Yorkshire Division One: Old Brodleians 3 Bradford & Bingley 19

WITH eight games remaining - four at home, four away - the title seems to be almost in reach for Martin Whitcombe's squad after they followed their best away performance of the season at Scarborough with their best defensive effort of the season in terrible conditions in the hills of Hipperholme.

Bradford & Bingley must have sensed the game was in the bag when they were down to 13 men, with both starting props in the sin bin, and yet they were able to repel a five-metre scrum and even manage to fashion an overlap as they attacked up the hill into the teeth of the wind and rain.

The visitors' management were bewildered by the decisions that led to Ryan Wederell and then Roger Raper receiving ten minutes in the bin, and the Brods were equally puzzled that the visitors' misdemeanours had not warranted a penalty try.

It was the only scoring chance the Brods had as their attempts to batter down the middle of the Bees defence were repelled time after time.

Whitcombe, euphoric about his side's performance, said: "it would be interesting to know how many sides come here and score a try up the hill and also stop the Brods scoring down this slope.

"Our defensive performance was awesome but I was equally pleased that our points came from the backs.

"In these conditions, you might expect it to be Tom Cummins or Brett Mitchell driving over from short yards but we still got the ball in the backs' hands and tried to play some rugby.

"We have a pack who can stand toe to toe with anyone in this division but since I came back to Wagon Lane it has been my intention to play rugby that people want to watch and to get the ball out wide as often as possible, and in these conditions it took some doing."

The home side looked to have scored the only points of the first half with an eighth-minute penalty but as first-half injury time ticked on, Lachlan Moore was off his mark and onto a loose pass from a Brods half-back to dot down under the sticks.

With Richard Scull tacking on the conversion, it was 7-3 as the sides turned round.

The scrum half was the very epitome of the Bees' defensive efforts, making a number of tremendous hits which put them on the front foot.

Outside Scull, Shaun Driver had his best game in a Bees shirt and kept his side moving with the correct selection of passing and kicking options throughout.

Almost as soon as the sides turned round, the Bees had their second score on the board as the back line zipped the ball up the right touchline, with Taylor Fiddes putting Adam Mitchell over in the corner.

With 40 minutes to play, the Bees might have hoped they could run in the four scores required for the bonus point but some solid defence from the home side kept the Bees out until an exquisitely timed pass from Driver put Moore through a gap, and the centre stepped through the traffic to dot down.

With the score 19-3 and 20 minutes to play, the visitors still appeared to have all the time needed to acquire the bonus point but with both sides now indistinguishable in the mud, the game became stuck in the midfield gloop and, despite the odd flash from a Bees player lighting up the gloom, the game ended with players and spectators glad to return to the warmth of the clubhouse.