YOU would imagine that Wharfedale would be largely content after a 16-0 victory at Sheffield Tigers, who have beaten them in all three of their previous National League Two North encounters.

And the Dalesmen are, especially after nilling opponents who have averaged 32 points a game in that trio of triumphs.

However, Rob Baldwin, who takes over as Greens director of rugby next season, is a driven man.

Ahead of Saturday's home clash with Tynedale, he said: "We had a 10-0 lead against Sheffield but had 14 opportunities in their final third in the first half and didn't take any of them, and that could be something that bites us in other matches, as I reminded the boys on Saturday.

"However, Tigers never looked like scoring. It was difficult to split any of our forwards in terms of man of the match as they all played superbly, but fly half Tom Barrett rightly got the man of the match award for getting over the 1,000-point mark for us."

Winger Oli Cicognini got the Greens try after just two minutes, with Barrett adding the conversion, and he tagged on a penalty in the first half and a penalty and a drop goal in the second half as the visitors moved three points ahead of Blaydon, who are in the highest of the three demotion places.

Typical matches against Tigers recently have involved their back three running from deep and Wharfedale missing first-up tackles to give the Dore Moor side a crucial impetus.

But there was none of that on Saturday as the Dalesmen stopped the hosts from getting into any threatening situations.

"Conditions helped us," admitted Baldwin. "They wanted the pitch as dry as possible while we would have been quite prepared to brush the water back on.

"But the great thing is that the situation is now in our own hands and, as I said last week, we need to make our home matches count."

Dale will be determined to carry on their momentum this weekend but fifth-placed Tynedale are sure to prove tough opponents.

Baldwin added: "The lads who came off the bench last week – I don't like calling them replacements – will have a part to play in the rest of our season."