Moortown 5 YMCA 31

Yorkshire II

MARK WHITEHEAD bagged a brace of tries on his eagerly-awaited debut as YMCA kept up their momentum at the top of Yorkshire II with an excellent victory and a valuable bonus point at Moortown.

YM knew the Moortown pitch and conditions were unlikely to favour their open style of play after torrential rain had left the surface perfectly playable but tacky and not made for free-running rugby.

Former Huddersfield skipper Whitehead came into the team for his debut, filling the role of inside centre to bolster a set of backs slightly weakened through unavailability, and the YM faithful were keen to see what the new man could do.

And they were not to be disappointed as it took him just five minutes to get onto the end of a smart pass from stand-off Jon Smith to blast through a gap in defence and sprint for the line for the game’s opening try. Smith added the extras and YM were off and racing.

Moortown settled things down with some strong tackling and a willingness to have a go at the YM defence at every opportunity and were unlucky not to get three points when a penalty bounced off the upright.

The match was nip and tuck with neither side able to gain a clear advantage until the 22nd minute, when a rash tackle from YM centre Chris Williams earned him a place in the sin bin. However the home side were unable to take advantage of the extra man, as they too lost a player for throwing a punch in the melee that followed the tackle.

Moortown did put some good passages of play together and when a gap appeared out wide in the defensive line, back row Docking exploited it to score a try, but the kicker failed to convert as the half-time score remained at 7-5 in favour of the visitors.

From the re-start, the YM pack stepped up a gear and soon had the advantage over their opponents who gradually had the life sucked out of them by YM’s strong rucking and driving mauls as the fitness levels began to tell.

The game was now there for the taking, and after a strong scrummage YM pushed Moortown back over their own line, and the ever-alert Darren Neilly got the touch down at the back of the scrum, Smith again on target with the extras.

Although Moortown tried to hold it together, the game was slipping out of their grasp and after a superb driving maul, skipper Tom Sharrock was on hand to make the break and dive over the line for YM’s third try.

Smith was unable to add the conversion, but by now it was all YM and on 71 minutes Whitehead got his second of the day after being on the end of some excellent approach work by a number of YM forwards, in particular Fabio Leonne-Mazza who had one of his best game in YM colours.

Smith tacked on the extras to Whitehead’s second try to extend the visitors’ lead to 26-5.

Young winger Lloyd Bentley then put in a brilliant piece of rugby when he rounded two defenders on a sprint to the line, before cleverly fashioning a crossfield kick for the supporting James Swift to collect and go over the line, only for the referee to turn down the score, ruling the ball was knocked on as he grounded it under the weight of two tacklers.

YM were not to be denied however, and in the last couple of minutes they set up another attack through full-back Alex Shaw, who released the tireless prop Laurie Sanderson. He in turn showed a remarkable turn of speed before selflessly giving the pass to the supporting Sam Hodge to cross for the final score of the day.

YMCA: Shaw, Ryder, Bentley, Whitehead, Williams (Swift); Smith, Wilson; Dyke (Ste), Dyke (Stu), Sanderson, Housley, Neilly, Sharrock (Hodge), Leonne-Mazza, Pollock (Bell).