LUCA Devittoris, who didn’t think that he would be playing this season after breaking a leg, bagged himself a hat-trick of tries against the club that he left in the summer.

The 25-year-old was part of a 63-19 romp for Yarnbury in their home Counties Two Yorkshire derby against Bradford & Bingley.

Devittoris, who played for Bees as a youngster for four years before decamping to Otley and West Park Bramhope and then returning to Wagon Lane for three years after leaving university, explained: “I broke my leg last October and didn’t play for the rest of the season.

“I didn’t even know if I would be playing again this season. I work for myself as a window cleaner, so if I get a serious injury again that is me out of work and there is no-one to cover for me, but I know a lot of the lads here as we all went to Woodhouse Grove.

“I was leaning towards not playing any more, but a few of the lads got in touch and said, ‘Come down to Yarnbury’, and I thought that I would give it a go, but I didn’t do any pre-season.

“I played my first match about a month ago and this was my fourth match.”

Devittoris admitted: “When the fixtures came out, I was looking at these matches, but more so the one at Bradford & Bingley.

“I didn’t want those matches to come too early in the season, but this one came at a good time.”

Devittoris suffered for his exertions, however, as he hobbled over the line when scoring his third try in the 78th minute, having already crossed in the 29th and 33rd minutes.

“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 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.”

Devittoris wasn’t the only player who left the Bees in the summer to score against them, however, as centre Will Marshall, who arrived before Devittoris but was originally at Yarnbury, scored a late try and kicked three conversions.

Other tries came from Max Kennedy (2), Max Lee, Tom Whitfield and Harrison Smith, with Daniel Pound adding six conversions before leaving the field with a rib injury, Marshall taking over the kicking duties.

Yarnbury, who are at bottom-of-the-table Hemsworth on November 2, are up to second in the table with 27 points, having won five matches and drawn one.

They are eight points behind unbeaten leaders Dinnington, and Devittoris said: “I would like to think that we can get promoted.

“Last year we were third and the hope is that we can go one better, but it is a tough league."