Burley 15
Garforth RUFC 14

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With nothing to play for the Garforth players found themselves just playing out a long hard season which saw them move from bottom of the table in late October to top four contenders in early April.

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However a series of hard games over the last 10 days including close run games against Yorkshire 3 champions West Park Leeds and Yorkshire 4 champions Old RIshworthians had taken its toll on the players.

Coach Adi Horwell was forced to make several changes to squad with Jonny Fallas, James Baldwin, Jon Lawson and Rob Gummerson all unavailable and several other players playing on with injuries.

To compound Garforths preparations hooker Phil Jackson was late arriving due to work commitments so Garforth played out the opening 10 minutes with just 14 men.

Playing up the slope in the 1st half Garforth had opportunities thanks to powerful runs from winger Craig Hart and Des Claxton, as well as good position kicking from Alex Gomerson.

However the homeside play their ground very well and consistently kicked to the corners of the sloping pitch. With Garforths lineout not on form possession was scrappy for Garforth, however the defence as ever was strong with captain Adam Brown and Chris Nevison leading the way with several big hits.

It was Burley who opened the scoring when their number eight scored under the posts following a quickly taken move caught Garforth defence napping. The extras where added and Garforth found themselves seven down.

A great covering tackle from Claxton prevented a further try five minutes later, however Burley did add a 2nd when following a chip kick the Burley Centre was awarded the try by the Burley touchjudge who did not acknowledge the ball was grounded outside the field of play.

This left the Garforth players bewildered as the referee was clearly unsighted and accepted the word of the Burley touchjudge.

However the try stood leaving Garforth 12 points down at the half.

Other than a solid defensive effort Garforths overall play had been poor in the 1st half so a motivationally half time speak from Coach Horwell followed and seemed to work as Garforth's second half performance was improved.

Garforth hit back when Horwell made a break through the middle of the field and offloaded to the supporting Dawson who crossed under the pos, Gomerson added the extras to reduce the deficit to five points.

Minutes later Garforth won a scrum against the head and once again Horwell broke the tackle of his opposite centre. This time he need no help as he crossed the line for the score, Gomerson converted to give Garforth a 2 point advantage with 15 minutes remain.

Once again Garforth were on top and powered forward and were only prevented further tries thanks to some strong Burley defensive efforts. Not for the first time this season it was Garforths discipline and understanding of the rules that let them down as they gave away unnecessary penalties whilst pushing forwards to take the pressure of the opponents and give away easy ground.

Having cleared their lines Burley chose to Maul the ball towards the Garforth line and came upto the Garforth 22 but strong open field defence prevented further progress but a penalty for kicking the ball allowed Burley to convert to re-establish the lead. The penalty hit the posts but the referee awarded a retake as Flanker Simon Horwell had run forwards at the point of the kicker approaching the ball.

The Burley fly half kept his cool to convert to give Burley a 15-14 lead with two minutes remaining.

From the kick-off Garforth won the ball back and immediately looked to run at the Burley defence.

Garforth moved the ball well to the left hand side of the field through the forwards and a break from Lee Dawson in the centres saw the quick movement to the right wing. Craig Hart easily beet his opposite winger and crossed the line for a seemingly match winning try.

However the referee, alleged a forward pass had occurred, much to Garforths protest from supporters and players.

The referee did not converse with the touchjudge and eventually awarded Burley a full penalty due to Garforth players protests at the disallowed try.

Burley ran out the clock from the resulting lineout.

Despite the final result of this game Garforth can be very proud of a good season in Yorkshire 4 which saw them comeback from the depths of the bottom of the table in late October to finish the season with a record of 10 wins, 3 draws and 9 defeats, an improved record from the previous season. Garforth now await to see the result of the league restructure before looking ahead to next season.

* Garforth 2nd's recorded an impressive 26-0 victory over Burley 2nds.

Leading 26-0 at halftime the game was moved to a smaller pitch in the 2nd half due to a serious injury to a Burley player.

The smaller pitch worked the advantage of the bigger Burley pack, meaning Garforth could only record a further 2 tries in the 2nd half.