Yorkshire Division One: Bradford Salem 33 Yarnbury 22

BRADFORD Salem moved up into eighth place in Yorkshire Division One after a hard-fought win over relegation-threatened Yarnbury.

In near-perfect playing conditions at Shay Lane, the visitors were first on the scoreboard courtesy of a fourth-minute penalty by fly half Kieran Davies after Salem were penalised for not releasing.

Then, with 12 minutes gone, Davies doubled his team’s tally as he kicked a second penalty when a Salem player was guilty of a high tackle.

East Midlands Society referee Simon Hill then awarded Yarnbury a penalty for another high shot, but this time Davies’ kick sailed wide of the uprights.

From the restart, Salem took advantage of this reprieve when some good recycled ball gave fly half and skipper Andy Robinson the opportunity to dummy his way over for an excellent try, improved by half-back partner Matt Booth, to give the hosts a slender 7-6 advantage.

Yarnbury then suffered a blow when their skipper and open-side flanker Jimmy Cryan was sent to the sin-bin for a trip but Salem were unable to make the extra man count as Booth and Davies exchanged penalties to take the score to 10-9.

Salem extended their lead with a moment of genius from man-of-the-match Robinson, who regathered his own chip ahead to send supporting centre Harry Hall galloping over the line for a fine try, Booth adding the extras to give the home side a 17-9 lead at the break.

After three minutes of the second half, Davies kicked his fourth successful penalty to reduce the arrears to 17-12, but moments later Booth replied with his third penalty to restore the eight-point gap.

Salem were then reduced to 14 men as Hall received a yellow card for a high tackle, and Davies kicked the resultant penalty to get the visitors back to within a score at 20-15.

Yarnbury then took the lead when Cryan exploited the blind side of a scrum to score an excellent solo effort improved by Davies to give the Horsforth side a 22-20 lead.

However, after an ugly fracas, Salem took a 26-22 lead as Booth kicked two more penalties.

With time ticking away, Yarnbury were now chasing the game, and, in the final play, their bold decision to run the ball from inside their own 22 backfired as they dropped the ball, allowing winger Nick Fontaine to hack through.

However, the former Wibsey Warrior was tripped before he was able to regather the ball over the line, leaving the referee no choice but to award a penalty try, Booth landing the simple conversion to seal a 33-22 victory.