AFTER the postponement of last weekend’s Yorkshire Four fixture, Nestle Rowntree returned to action with a 12-36 win at Leeds Modernians.

The Trees travelled north with a strong squad, looking to complete the double over their opponents following a 30-3 win at the end of October.

There were some new faces in the Rowntree team and the fixture would prove a good test of their resolve in a game of two halves.

The Mod’s pitch is one of the few tracks in the league with a very marked slope and heavy soil, and knowing how to use it to their advantage has been a long-term strength of the home team. 

With the Trees having the uphill half for the first forty, it was up to them to set a score they could defend in the second period.

The visitors opened the scoring early on, with Oliver Neill stealing an interception from 40 metres out and putting on some pace to score under the posts. Jack Daniels was easily able to convert.

Able to pin the home team in their own 22 with kicks and downhill runs, it was then Connor Smith-Lynch who carried from a five-metre Trees lineout to crash over and set up another simple conversion for Daniels.

With Leeds playing close to the breakdown and kicking through the Trees’ line, there were moments in the first half when only quick defensive work kept them off the board. 

But the Trees were soon further in front, Ali O’Gara capitalising on a scuffed clearance kick to slide over for their third try into the right corner.

Daniels’ conversion flew wide of the sticks, but the visitors were firmly in control.

In the last play of the half the visitors crossed over for another try, Matty

Downs breaking the Mods line from a short crash ball to rampage 40 metres down the slope. Daniels’ successful kick closed the half at 0-26.

With the slope in the home team’s favour, the question for the second half was if the visitors’ lead would be enough.

Yes, would be the answer.

Rowntree’s winger/hooker Josh Prenty needed just two minutes to finish a full back-line move to score in the left corner and extend the visitors’ lead by a further five.

Mods used their local knowledge to kick and run the ball back into the lower half of the field and ran determinedly at the Trees line, but they were met by some solid defence and a powerful scrum. 

It was debutant Zak Winfield who next scored for Trees, with the ball ran up the hill and spun wide to send him over on the right wing.

The conversion was too far for Daniels, but the visitors were cruising at 0-36.

Mods did not give up, though, with their replacement inside centre picking up speed and plowing through the Trees line to score beside the posts.

The hosts did cross for another try with 10 minutes left on the clock, but it was the visitors who came away with a five-point league win, which they will be hoping to back up at home to Halifax on Saturday, February 11.