2ND XV MERIT LEAGUE GAME

WATH ON DEARNE A 17 – 8 SKIPTON A

After winning three out of four and having a good squad travelling to the nether regions of South Yorkshire, this result was a huge disappointment. Skipton playing downhill, early exchanges were even. A penalty after twenty minutes from James Burke was the only score. Just before half-time a sweeping back line break-out from Wath, left them close to the line field position, where one of their forwards touched over from close-in.

Half-time 5-3 to Wath

Second half Skipton changed their tactics, first twenty minutes of the half was all the red forwards, driving line-outs and mauls making inroads at will. From one of these drives, Brad Bates touched down, the ref was unsighted, from the ensuing five metre scrum, and no.8 Vinny Murphy picked up and charged over. 8-5 to Skipton.

This is where things started going wrong. In only his third game refereeing, the official struggled to cope as forward play at the contact area got more and more fractious. Wath were extremely street-wise and bent the rules at every opportunity, entering the breakdown area from all angles. Unfortunately Skipton got more involved, frustrated and aggressive, minor incidents broke up the play, which spoilt their rhythm and the game-plan.

No.8 Vinny Murphy had a verbal altercation with one of the Wath miscreants, the referee took exception to it and sin-binned the Skipton forward. This proved to be the turning point. Wath hadn’t been able to hold Murphy, who’d made huge amounts of yardage carrying the game to the opposition. They then turned the screw, scoring two close to the line tries, the first of which Matt Rhodes had held up.

After this second score the opposition touch judge pointed out the length of the sin-binning which had gone a long way past ten minutes. Another unfortunate faux-pas to go against the visitors. Skipton did not have time to get back into the game.

Positives – Prop Jamie Riches was solid as a rock in the scrum and prominent all over the park with big runs, as was Gordon Fisher, Brad Bates and Richard Hill. Vinny Murphy had some storming runs and put in a big tackling stint. The narrow pitch did not suit the quicksilver backs, who still managed to look dangerous every time they had the ball.