Match Report: Wharfedale 40 Preston Grasshoppers 14

Ed Williams has been reporting for the Yorkshire Times, part of the p.ublished group of online newspapers, on his local club, Wharfedale RUFC.

A commanding performance saw Wharfedale wrap up this clash between 5th and 6th in the table. Wharfedale captain, George Hedgley, commented after the game that “we made a number of changes from the second half against Sheffield last week. We addressed critical areas such as giving away penalties and making mistakes. We were not perfect but so much better than last week. Our skill set in the final third paid dividends and we scored some decent tries. 19-year-old Zeb Heys had a cracking game as did all the players who came off the bench.”

Wharfedale opened playing strong direct rugby and were rewarded with two tries in the 1st 10 minutes. After good carries by Dan Stockdale and Bradley Viner, Jake Armstrong muscled over to open the scoring, converted by Robbie Davidson. Preston did have some possession in these opening minutes but found the Dale defence resolute and could not get past the Dale 10-metre line. The second try came from a catch and drive 13 metres from the line, Preston seemed to have held the drive, but the Green Machine put on a second surge that Preston could not handle. Dan Stockdale touched down and Davidson slotted the extras.

The visitors started to get more meaningful possession and territory and had some time in Dale’s 22. Poor line-out stopped Hoppers taking full advantage. The game was then stopped for a medical emergency in the crowd and all the physios and the club doctor attended. The referee took the players off the pitch until the situation was resolved. An ambulance was called and the casualty was dealt with. News came after the match that the spectator had recovered and wished to thank everyone at the ground for how the situation was handled.

When play resumed the visitors soon won a penalty and pushed the ball to within 10-metres of the line. They put on more pressure and Preston got their first try after good play by the forwards and backs saw Sam Russell squeeze over on the left-hand touch-line. Greg Smith made the conversion look simple. Good breaks by Oli Cicognini and Joe Fawcett carried play up to the Preston line and the play was finished off with another try from Armstrong. Davidson converted.

Preston scored a second after good fast play allowed Jacob Browne to score wide out left. Again, Smith landed the difficult conversion to leave the score 21-14 at half-time.

Dale’s bonus point try came after 6 minutes of the second half. From a line-out in Preston’s 22 the pack secured good ball and set off on a good drive, tying in the Preston players. The ball was then sent down the line to Rian Hamilton who left the defence standing and crossed the whitewash. No conversion this time but Dale were now on the front foot.

Further tries came from Davidson and Jack Pinder. Both the result of accurate passing and support play. The second, perhaps the best of the two, came after a break down the right by Bradley Viner. Quick recycled ball was fed to Pinder who crashed over. Davidson converted both to take the score up to the 40 mark.

Simon Verbickas, Wharfedale Head Coach, said after the game:
“I was very pleased with today; all 20 lads were on the same page. We performed well in parts last week but needed to do it for the full 80 minutes which we did today. I was really proud of the effort of the players today and especially that they denied Preston any bonus points as they were level on points with us at the start of the match.”

There were strong performances by all the squad. Special mention must be given to Zeb Heyes. The 19-year-old came off the bench after 32 minutes for his 1st for Wharfedale match at this level. He played magnificently; strong in the line-out and in the tackle. Jake Armstrong had a very strong 40 minutes before getting injured and his two tries were just reward for his efforts. His replacement Ben Patchett also had an outstanding 40 minutes and hats off to Jack Hirst who came on to replace Sam Dickinson at prop in the first half. The centre pairing of Oli Cicognini and Josh Prell continued to impress as did wingers Brad Viner and Rian Hamilton. Joe Fawcett had another sparkling game and was unlucky not to be on the scoreboard after, now textbook, defence-shattering breaks.

Wharfedale Bullough; Viner, Prell, Cicognini, Hamilton; Davidson, Riddiough (Kaup-Samuels 69); Dickinson (Hirst 22), Stockdale, Armstrong (Patchett 40), Stockton (Heyes 32), Hedgley, Pinder (Weston 69), Fawcett, Beresford (Pinder 71)

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