9:00am Thursday 25th February 2010
By Gordon Thomas
It was far from pretty, but Wharfedale just about deserved to come out on top in this scrappy match.
Their spirit, more than any great degree of consistently fluent play, saw them recover from 14-0 down after half-an-hour, and then cope with a difficult second-half spell when reduced to 13 men.
While the Greens had at least their fair share of possession in the early stages, lapses in central defence allowed Stourbridge to surge into the lead with two converted tries - winger Charlie Fellows (14 mins) the first to cross, with lock Oliver Atkinson (30) also touching down to establish, with stand-off Sam Robinson’s conversions, an ominous-looking advantage.
However, the Dalesmen began the fight-back barely a minute after Atkinson’s score. James Tincknell, growing in confidence with every match, powered his way down his wing, handing off Fellows’ attempted tackle, before slipping to centre Chris Malherbe for a try in the corner.
On 37 minutes sloppy passing by Stour gifted the ball to Latu Maka’afi, and the Greens’ leading try-scorer had an easy canter - albeit from the half-way line - to register his 11th league try of the season, Mark Bedworth converting.
The visitors went in front in added time with a well-worked try from concerted pressure, winger David Hall eventually over by the corner flag.
Bedworth (making his 100th league start for the club) belied a generally erratic kicking performance with a superb conversion from the touchline.
Facing a 19-14 deficit as the second- half got under way, Stourbridge opted to concentrate on the power of their pack to grind out scoring opportunities.
When Wharfedale prop Adam Mason (58 mins), followed a minute later by No 8 Rob Baldwin, were sin-binned by referee Andrew Vertigan, things looked bleak for the Greens. But they held out, with just one unconverted try conceded, claimed by substitute lock Rupert Cooper (65).
Cooper’s try levelled the score but, now back to full strength, the Dalesmen conjured the best move of the game, Hall rounding off fine approach work by centre Andy Hodgson and full-back Luke Gray with his second try (70), completing the scoring and clinching a bonus point.
Stourbridge: M Williams; A Hunter-Blair, A Billig, B Barkley, C Fellows; S Robinson, J Higgins; A Sturdy, H Collins, J Baker, S Homer, O Atkinson, B Hughes, J Rodley, S Pearson.
Wharfedale: L Gray; J Tincknell (I Dixon 73), A Hodgson, C Malherbe, D Hall; M Bedworth, S Cottrell; A Mason, G Hindle (S Graham 70), N Dickinson (M Chivers 63), R Brown (O Renton 49), A Allen, L Maka’afi, D Solomi, R Baldwin.
Referee: Andrew Vertigan
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