National League Two North: Wharfedale 12 Preston Grasshoppers 20

WHARFEDALE'S hopes of playing fast, open rugby were dampened by heavy rain and a heavy Hoppers pack as the visitors dominated the scrum and played to the conditions better than the home side.

Dale continued to try to play attractive rugby but were starved of possession in the first half, which was just won by Preston.

The teams set out their stalls on a dark afternoon, and a Preston scrum led to a penalty.

From the line-out, their catch and drive took them a further ten metres. but when they tried to run the ball, a tackle from Scott Jordan led to a turnover.

Dale then spread the play and forced a penalty, which Tom Barrett slotted from 37 metres.

The hosts attempted to attack with every scrap of possession, and only the elements seemed to frustrate them, with the ball becoming a difficult slippery missile.

Again it was Preston’s forwards that were pushing the home side back, and they ended with a five-metre attacking scrum.

Penalties followed and the platform was provided for Preston’s No 8 Sam Gales to crash over.

Having already missed a penalty kick, Lewis Allen also missed the conversion.

The game continued as it had started, with the Preston pack rumbling on while Dale were attempting to open things out, and one of the best moves of the game from Wharfedale was only thwarted by a superb cover tackle.

Hoppers cleared the ball to Scott Jordan, who ran the ball back and set up a ruck, Barrett setting himself and dropping a goal from 43 metres.

The visitors grabbed a deserved 8-6 lead just before half-time, however, with a 40-metre penalty from Allen.

Dale opened up the second half on the attack and swept up to the opposition 22.

A penalty seemed scant reward for such enterprise but the three points were accepted, with Barrett again being successful.

The Preston restart was taken at the gallop by man of the match George Hedgley, who surged through the Preston defence.

Dale had the better of nearly the first 30 minutes of the second half, with only brief periods spent in their own half.

It seemed again that only handling the 'bar of soap' would stop them from extending their lead.

As it was, the only reward for this domination was another Barrett penalty to extend Dale’s lead to four points.

Hoppers got into Dale’s 22 when a kick ahead went into touch off a Wharfedale player.

Having won the line-out, they then won a scrum.

A penalty followed and Hoppers opted for another scrum, and what followed turned the game on it’s head.

Having only given away one penalty at the set-piece in the second half, Dale seemed to have steadied the ship, but then replacement prop James Huck was sent to the bin-bin.

As starting prop Ian Larkin had a neck injury, Dale then fell foul of the regulations as they had to play with only 13 men when they were forced to send another player to the sidelines for being unable to provide a front row.

After dominating territory and possession in the second half to establish a 12-8 lead, they then conceded two tries.

The first came from the ensuing line-out as Hoppers drove over, with Christian Taylor being credited with the try and Allen slotting the ball over from the tee.

The second Preston try utilised the two-man advantage, and a sweeping move to the right gave them a two man overlap and a superb score.

The Green Machine did not deserve to win the match as there were too many mistakes.

Their pack were 100 per cent at the scrums and won 12 out of 14 line-outs, and in the second half they actually had Preston going backwards a couple of times.

They never lacked enterprise and, even after the injured Jimmy Bullough was replaced by Jordan at scrum half, they still showed the urge to run the ball at every opportunity.

Barrett had a great opening game and it was good to see that the drop goal is still part of his weaponry.

Wharfedale: H Bullough (Guy 40); Cicognini, Jordan, Hodgson, R Davidson; Barrett, J Bullough (Prell 52); Larkin (Huck 40), Stockdale, Bradshaw, Ward, Hedgley, Oxley (Allen 42), Wilson, Burridge. Replacement not used: J Parkinson.