9:59am Thursday 26th August 2010
Only the Peter Kremer Trophy, rather than four league points plus a bonus, might be at stake on Saturday, but that won’t make a jot of difference to Wharfedale's head coach Tom McGee.
Kendal are their visitors in an annual clash but McGee said: “We will be taking 20 players and preparing for it as it were a league game”
The most pleasing aspect of the Dalesmen's 27-9 victory at Preston Grasshoppers last Saturday was keeping their line intact.
Grasshoppers’ only points came from a first-half drop goal and two second-half penalties from Tom Bell, and McGee said: “Not to concede a try is good for any team and is something that we are definitely pleased with.”
Preston were certainly combative and resilient, and the match was more demanding, but Wharfedale still scored four tries.
The Greens had mew faces on show in fly half Tom Barrett and flanker David Hughes, as well as first appearances after injury for Luke Gray and returning captain Rob Baldwin.
But in the event it was elements of the Greens’ team play 7their tight defensive organisation, some neat moments of back play and another highly impressive scrum performance, this time against some bulk, which really caught the eye.
Grasshoppers almost exclusively pursued a driving, attritional game around the breakdown.
Especially during the first half-an-hour, they secured enough ball and structured play to construct a game they never quite managed to achieve.
What it did mean was that Wharfedale were made to defend lengthily, and sometimes grimly, and it was a usefully stern test for the likes of young Barrett.
The former Sedbergh youngster is clearly a talented acquisition, with a deft timing and confident control of distribution shown to good effect in his combination work with winger Chris Black and Gray, which brought him the opening try.
Tom Davidson, looking more comfortable at inside centre, secured another before half-time after three pick-and-drives on the 22 provided space for him to dummy over.
The second half produced much of the same, with the Greens having to work hard to secure sufficient possession for their backs.
Eventually good driving work near the line by the back row freed wide space for winger Black to score.
And with the late addition of Richard Rhodes supplying welcome quick top-of-the-jump line-out ball, scrum half Michael Woodward produced a neat slight of hand for a final close-quarter try.
Davidson’s second conversion, together with his earlier penalty, produced a pretty realistic final scoreline. So in the end the match proved a very worthwhile outing, allowing new faces like former Loughborough Students flanker Hughes to bed in, old hands like Gray to shed some of their post-injury rustiness, and Foresters' aspirants like Black and the elder Woodhead to press their claim for first-team selection.
Wharfedale were made to work sufficiently hard for strengths and weaknesses to appear – which is exactly what McGee would have wanted.
He said: “There was a massive improvement in the set-piece, and the scrum was really solid, while the line-out is also showing progress, which will be backed up by video analysis.”
The Foresters began their pre-season campaign with a 26-19 victory over Keighley’s first XV last Friday.
But, despite scoring four tries to one, the Greens were made to fight for victory in this excellent match.
The nagging accuracy of Keighley kicker Alex Brown, who slotted four penalties, and added the conversion to Scott Dyson’s second-half try, kept the visitors in the hunt.
Chris Malherbe, Dan Solomi, Rhys Davies and Adam Whaites got the Foresters’ tries, with conversions from Aireborough newcomer James Druce (2) and Lloyd Davies.
McGee said: “It was great for the lads to play a match having put so much into pre-season and we played some good rugby.
“It was also important for us to win but there are things to work on such as looking after the ball in contact."
The Foresters, having narrowly seen off a much-improved Keighley, conclude their preparations at old friends North Ribblesdale tonight (6.15).
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