Yarnbury 27 Wath 30

Wath travelled to play Yarnbury on one of the two Artificial Grass Pitches (AGP), provided by the RFU in Yorkshire. This hard and fast surface has assisted the home team score an average of 4 tries in each game through their backs and is not advantageous to Wath’s forward dominated game plan.
Although Wath had a more settled side with only a couple of changes, the Wath supporters must have been concerned when the Yarnbury backs ripped the Wath defence apart: a blistering set piece move in the backs scored the opening try after just 5 minutes. The gusty wind which was to trouble both teams’ kickers, blew the conversion wide and the score remained 5-0 to the hosts.
Wath replied well from the restart and gained good territorial advantage for a line out on the Yarnbury 22 metre line. A clean catch and drive by the Wath forwards moved towards the try line and Luke Stead took control to dive over and claim the touch down. The score remained 5-5 after Whitlam’s difficult conversion attempt.
The next significant action occurred after 25 minutes when Wath centre, Andy Hopkin, made a trademark break and, despite the move breaking down, it resulted in a 5 metre scrum to the visitors. With power and control the Wath pack moved forwards and the captain and No. 8 was able to claim a try. A similar conversion to the first was taken wide by the wind but Wath had taken a 5-10 lead.
Wath continued to dominate and, on 40 minutes, they gained their reward with another try from short range, this one coming from hooker, Bobby Lazenby. Another difficult conversion was missed, much to the frustration of kicker, Jack Whitlam, but the visitors had a 5-15 lead at the break.
Having been denied much of the ball in the first half, the home team were forced to change their game plan and decided to keep the ball alive and get any scraps of possession to their backs This tactic caused the Wath team problems and Yarnbury opened the scoring in the second half with an unconverted try to close the score to 10-15.
A penalty by Jack Whitlam on 50 minutes gave Wath back a two score advantage at 10-18, but the home team were not to be denied. A converted try on 55 minutes brought Yarnbury to within a point, 17-18 and they had a numerical advantage as Wath’s Sam Levitt was sent to the sin bin for a foul play.
During this period Yarnbury retook the lead with a try to make the score 22-18. The ding dong battle between the Wath forwards and Yarnbury backs continued as Wath hit back with another try by Joe Earp from a 5 metre scrum, giving Wath a one point lead 22-23 after 65 minutes.
With 10 minutes left, the home side regained the lead 27-23 with another try, but the Wath forwards had the last word. Continued pressure near the Yarnbury line ended with Joe Earp completing a hat trick of tries from 5 metre scrums. Jack Whitlam completed the scoring with a well taken conversion as the game ended with a 27-30 victory to the visitors.
The large group of Wath supporters had been treated to an entertaining game between contrasting styles with their team showing enough determination and spirit to gain a second consecutive bonus point win.
Next week Wath entertain local rivals, Barnsley, who will be desperate for a win to escape from the relegation zone. Kick off 2.15.