WHARFEDALE will be looking for a lift when they entertain Darlington Mowden Park on Saturday.

The Green have lost four of their opening five National League One matches and have yet to win in front of their home crowd after losing their first two encounters at The Avenue to Esher and Cinderford.

Wharfedale might draw inspiration from the 2006-7 season when they were beaten by Launceston, Blackheath and Henley before embarking on an unbeaten home run that saw them finish sixth.

Darlington Mowden Park joined the division last season, but lost twice to Wharfedale, not helped by three yellow cards before half-time at the Avenue, one of them upgraded to a red late in the game.

They arrive in second-bottom place, but this is misleading because, having given over their excellent stadium to the All Blacks for the World Cup, five of their first six matches will have been played away from home.

Wharfedale must do without Adam Howard, who suffered a dislocated ankle and fractured tibia during the warm-up at Henley.

His absence means that George Hedgley moves up to lock and Chris Howick starts at open side which means that Josh Burridge can revert to his favoured role on the blindside.

James Doherty returns at scrum half in place of Harry Skelton who will be on the bench. Also among the replacements is top try scorer Cameron Hudson who picked up an injury at Henley, flanker Nathan Myers and promising prop Ricardo Cano.

Max Wright moves to centre to replace Hudson with Maxime Labasse starting at full back. Matt Van Sertima gets his first outing on the wing as deputy for the injured Ollie Cicognini.

Wharfedale: Max Labasse; Dan Tai, Max Wright, Huw Morgan, Matt Van Sertima; Jamie Guy, James Doherty (c); Joe Altham, Ian Larkin, Ali Wade, Jim Mason, George Hedgley, Josh Burridge, Chris Howick, Rob Baldwin. Replacements: Dan Stockdale, Ricardo Cano, Cameron Hudson, Harry Skelton.