YATTON RFC

28^th January 2006

Thornbury 3^rd’s 10 - Yatton 3^rd’s 22

The early chances went to Yatton but the Thornbury pack fought strongly to thwart a few good opportunities and it was an overthrow error from a Thornbury line out which gave Stuart Castle the opportunity to take the ball in his stride and power through from the 22-metre line. He converted his own try.

The Thornbury pack continued to pressure and deserved the try, which started from a mauling move. Stuart Castle responded just after from a penalty, which had been won from a forwards ruck.

In the second half playing with the elements and slope, the Yatton side started to dominate the exchanges with the back row able to cause damage from the solidity of their front five. A ruck ball near the Thornbury line gave James Bird the opportunity to power over for another Yatton try.

With Thornbury battling back with some good three-quarter moves, a Yatton win was by no means a foregone conclusion, until winger Adam Noble intercepted a ball near the half way and sprinted away to score under the posts. With Stuart Castle again adding the extra points it was a comfortable lead for Yatton, but as they slackened off the Thornbury pack demonstrated that there was still a game to play and scored from a rolling maul to reduce the deficit and enliven the last ten minutes of the game.

This was the usual close encounter between these sides and for Yatton it avenged the Thornbury win a few weeks ago and keeps them well up in the Merit Table.

Acting Captain Daren Pugh was pleased with the performance and his leadership was influential to get the Yatton side back into the winning vein.

Scorers:

Tries: Castle, Bird, Noble

Penalty: Castle

Conversions: Castle (2)