For around thirty minutes of the second half of the game, the visitors showed they could play some rugby having turned round 35 points in arrears and conceding another try immediately after half time to leave the score at 42 nil with 42 minutes played. Two tries from scrum half Dom Walker and a third from skipper Corey Spencer pulled the Bees back to a rather more respectable 42-19 scoreline just after the hour mark.

The sudden uptick in the Bees performance had a band of vociferous supporters of the visiting side willing their team forward to get a fourth score and at least claim a bonus point, but any hopes of claiming that small victory were dashed in the closing exchanges as Yarnbury wrestled back control on the game and ran in three tries in time added on to run away from their opponents and claim the spoils.

One of the features of the season so far has been the ever-changing line up running out in Bees colours this season and also the number of veteran players who have been called back into service by Head Coach Ali MacDonald. One of those has been 46-year-old Rob Woodhead and perhaps it was more the lure of featuring in the same team as his son that was the key reason for Woodhead pulling his boots back on this season. The evergreen lock forward played for the entirety of this Counties Two Yorkshire derby.
Woodhead, who played for the last seven minutes off the bench in the Bees’ 46-18 Intermediate Cup final victory over Gloucester Old Boys at Twickenham in 2004 but hasn’t played first XV rugby for over a decade, explained: “I am coaching the under-16 team down at Bradford & Bingley, which my son Max (also a second row) plays in, and I want to play a senior game with him.
“I made myself a commitment to get down to pre-season training and get myself fit for when he is old enough (to play senior rugby) in 18 months’ time.
“I stopped drinking (alcohol) in January, I am running more with the dog and it is great to play first-team games.”
Woodhead added: “I managed to play 80 minutes on a 4G pitch here, tearing myself to bits, so it is good fun.
“And it was nice for me to get the Peter Rae Memorial Trophy match (Bradford Salem Vets v Bradford & Bingley Vets on August 31) under my belt before the season started to get a bit of match fitness, and I have now played three matches as I have also been unavailable.
“I am starting to get into the flow of it now and wasn’t blowing as much after 80 minutes as I was at the start of the season.”
As for how his body was holding up, Woodhead said: “If you had asked me 24 hours ago the answer was not so good, but Deep Heat is a wonderful thing, and plenty has been applied to my shoulders and neck and I am feeling good.
“Also cold showers the following day, an ice bath and wild water swims are helping, and that is the future at my age.”
Woodhead then reflected on his Twickenham experience, and said: “Social media was not prevalent and no-one seemed to be taking pictures afterwards, which is a shame.
“It was great fun, there was a real camararderie within the club and we had great support coming down on the coach, and we could hear that support from the stands all the way through.
“It was something special and they were great times, but we have a good set of lads now who have stuck together through thick and thin over the last five years and hopefully we have found our level now and can start to bring some of the young lads through and move up the leagues.
“I try and mentor the lads and bring a bit of a calming head with my experience, knowing when to slow things down and when to speed them up, and try and lead from the front and take the lads with me. There are other good leaders on the pitch too.”
As for playing on an artificial pitch, Woodhead admitted: “I had a bit of trepidation beforehand but I applied plenty of Vaseline and I am OK, but calves and cramp seemed to be issues in general as it is unforgiving but at least games don’t get called off.
“We had a good chat on Tuesday with the coaches and Geoff Cook (former England manager) after losing to Dinnington, where we had some players out and had to bring young lads in, but anything other than a minus five (concession) was good.
“We talked about three micro things that we would do at Yarnbury - for individuals not to give penalties away, which I think I did, not using my age as an excuse and get around the field better, and to put tackles in.
“It is a a bit of a cliche but it is about belief in yourself, belief in the coaches and belief in the lads that you are playing with.
“We proved for 25 minutes of the second half that we can compete with good sides like this and I don’t think that the scoreboard was a true reflection of the game and we should have got a bonus point for four tries.
“It was there for the taking but there were lots of positives to take from the second half
“It is about desire and turning the ball over, but we shouldn’t beat ourselves up too much.

“It is about rallying together, sticking together and digging in when times are tough.
“We now have 14 points after seven games, which is reasonable given our unavailabilities and hopefully we can now go on after two tough matches, but there were too many slipped tackles in the first half.”

In galloping to their 63 point haul, Yarnbury scored nine tries, with four being scored by players who left Wagon Lane in the summer - winger Luca Devittoris, who didn’t think that he would be playing this season after breaking a leg, bagged himself a hat-trick and centre Will Marshall, who also added three conversions.

Devittoris said after the game, reflecting on his hobble over the line when scoring his third try in the 78th minute,“The physio said that it was just cramp, and I had to hop over for the last 20 metres, so I am taking her word for it, but I do have chocolate hamstrings!”

As for the game itself, Devittoris said: “It was hard. I expected it to be physical but the Bees were even more physical than I thought they were going to be.
“They were letting me know throughout the game, but that was all in the spirit of the game.
“The artificial pitch certainly lends itself to the way that we play, and if you are not used to it it can catch you off guard, which it did for a try when they let the ball bounce.
“It is definitely an advantage to the home team, but as far as injuries are concerned I don’t know. I am always injured anyway, and it is always my hamstrings.
“We had a great first 40, which our captain mentioned afterwards, but he said that the Bees were definitely on top for 20 minutes in the second half, although I reckon that it was 30.
“Momentum is massive in games like this, and the second half was really tough, and that is credit to Bradford & Bingley.”

Other tries came from former Old Grovian Max Kennedy (2), Max Lee, Tom Whitfield and Harrison Smith, with Daniel Pound adding six conversions before leaving the field with a rib injury.