SKIPTON A 8 – 5 WHARFEDALE

After last week’s dour forward arm-wrestle this was a real treat to watch. Low-scoring it might have been, but here were two evenly-matched teams trying to play as much running rugby as possible.

Incessant drizzle and a strong breeze hinted at an ‘up the jumper’ kind of game. Wharfedale had first use of the elements, to their immense credit; they passed the ball around at every opportunity. Never resorting to ‘kick and chase’, this was extremely refreshing; they also recycled the ball perfectly from start to finish. Skipton’s defence was exemplary. Didn’t have the ball for twenty minutes again, but put their opponents down every time.

On the half-hour, a touch of real individual class. Captain Steve Marks put into space by a well-timed pass from James Burke, inside his own half – looked to his winger, then produced a ‘show and go’, three defenders closed in but were left chasing a shadow as Marks accelerated away to finish beautifully. Half-time 5-0 to Skipton.

With the wind and rain at their backs, Skipton were confident. Wharfedale immediately turned the tables with tremendous forward drives, neat move down the blind side, well timed, well weighted passes, put a man into space to score in the corner to bring the scores level.

Skipton then upped the ante, applying more and more pressure resulting in a penalty converted by James Burke. More nip and tuck rugby with Skipton just having the edge. Very rare for the Reds to beat the Greens at any level, so this was sweet. Deserved for a resilient defensive effort again.

Great return for flanker Neil King covering the entire park, tackling all and even managing a few turnovers against experts in that art. Sub Carl Watts brought talk to the organisation and Callum Cameron, another talented teenager, surprised the visitors’ number 8, with the tenacity of his tackling, putting him on his backside more than once.

Both sides played hard and fair. The game was a credit to all the players in front of a large appreciative crowd. Man-of-the-match was Steve Marks, whose touch of genius enlightened proceedings, bringing gasps, then applause from everyone who saw it.

28 October 2006 – Home

Team

15 Shaun Wiseman 14 Matthew Cox 13 Steve Marks

12 James Wade 11 Ben Davies             10 James Burke

9 Brian Brocksom 8 Bob Binns 7 Neil King

6 Chris Sheehan 5 Paul Shearer 4 Brad Bates

3 Stuart Harling 2 Dave Mitten 1 Will Bellas

Subs

Carl Watts Callum Cameron Peter Dutton

Tries

Steve Marks

Penalty

James Burke