Blaydon becoming a happy hunting ground for Wharfedale

FOR many years a trip to Blaydon saw Wharfedale come back down the A1 with little to show for their afternoon's work apart from bruises.

In their last two visits, however, things turned round.

Two seasons ago a spirited comeback helped the Greens garner two points, while last season they had a superb five-point victory.

With Wharfedale seeking another victory at Crow Trees, early handling errors contributed to Blaydon scoring a converted try, and more mistakes followed before the visitors got the upper hand.

A delightful chip by Tom Barrett was recollected and the ball spun left, only cynical play, at the expense of a yellow card, stopping a Wharfedale try.

However, the extra man soon told and good runs by Josh Prell and Barrett led to Scott Jordan crossing for an unconverted try.

Dale returned the ball from the restart and a good break from Oliver Cicognini was followed by an explosive surge from Lewis Wilson, Ralph Wellock carrying on the attack before feeding Jordan for his second try of the afternoon to make it 10-7.

Minutes later, Cicognini again broke free and gave Dale good field position, a cross kick was taken by Wilson for the Greens' third try.

However, Dale saved their best rugby of the half until last.

Glorious interplay in midfield led to the Blaydon defence looking flat-footed, charges from George Hedgley and Jimmy Meehan allowing Harry Bullough to take the ball at speed and finish the stanza off with a try under the posts, Barrett's conversion giving Dale a deserved 22-7 advantage at the interval.

With changes made at half-time, the game could have turned scrappy but neither side allowed this to happen and the meagre crowd were treated to a festival of open rugby.

Blaydon opened the second-half scoring with a try wide on the right but Barrett then pounced on a Blaydon handling error to put Jordan in for his third try.

Back came the home side, however, with two tries to make the score 29-24 with minutes to go.

The final try came from another Blaydon mistake.

Again it was Barrett who swooped on the ball, bursting clear and outrunning the cover to score from his own ten- metre line.

There were many positives to take back to Yorkshire from this display as the forwards held their own in the tight and the line-out worked well.

At the breakdown, turnovers were forced and, on a few occasions, the Blaydon ball-carrier was held up.

The backs, led by Barrett, showed real attacking flair, despite the odd error, and when they did stop, the forwards were quickly on hand to secure possession and rebuild.

Head coach James Doherty said: "It was extremely pleasing to see the boys playing with a smile on their faces.

"They were brave and ambitious and played some very attractive rugby.

"Yes, there were errors, and our basic execution of our skills is something we will work on long term, but it was a good starting point and gave us an idea of the areas we need to develop building towards our first league game at the start of September."