Leaders scupper Wharfedale's plan with their scrum power

The return of the East-enders has after all proved the story of the season But it was not as simple a story or quite as bleak a picture for the Greens as the score line might suggest. Barking held an uneasy 10-6 lead at the break, after an early exchange of penalties between and Tom Davidson and full back Adam Armstrong had left the visitors three points to the good.

Wharfedale had rediscovered their appetite for the painful joys of physical contact. Last week they may have been as abject in the tackle as they were aimless in attack, but the switch of Adam Whaites to midfield provided just the injection of paceand crunch they were looking for.

One early shuddering tackle from Whaites seemed to shake Barking’s attacking composure. Unfortunately the other axis of Wharfedale’s game plan actually proved to be their downfall. Rather than being an expected strength, the scrum proved to be their downfall.

The scrum is central and crucial to any rugby match of true intensity and completely determined events here in the home side’s favour. First, pressure on a Wharfedale line-out forced a knock-on, and from the resulting five-yard scrum a massive heave saw No 8 Lee Griffiths ground the ball and Armstrong slot a touchline conversion to give Barking their first half lead.

The league leaders added three more second half tries. Two of them may have come from the backs but it was their dominant scrum which laid the foundation for most of their meaningful attacks and decisively altered a game which at the interval still lay in the balance.

Winger David Vincent – the most impressive back in a generally staid three-quarter-line – neatly wrong-footed the Green defence and stepped inside through the gap to score just to the left of the posts leaving a simple 48th minute conversion.

Just for a change the build up came from a powerfully directed rolling maul within the 22. Wharfedale resisted gamely but on the hour they conceded a third try when further destructive set-piece play enabled centre Scot Alfeld to power over for Armstrong once more to convert giving Barking a 24-6 lead.

They were only able to add one further, rather dubious, try when pressure in the corner allowed fly-half Harry Owens to dart over in the corner and Armstrong to cap a fine Barking win with a final towering conversion.

And they finally proved equally formidable in defence in denying Wharfedale a consolation score as the Greens hammered at the home line with some unavailing venom in the dying moments of an intriguing match.

So at last the answer to the question everyone has been asking all the season – can Barking be just that bit better than the rest? The answer is a clear yes.

They play with just the sort of confident cohesion and sustained physical intensity that marks out a consistently successful side.

Though their backs on the day were rendered no more than efficient Barking were quick to re-orientate their game to forward play.

This was epitomised by the destructive force of loose-head Ed Ambrose. They possess the sort of hard core to their game that wins the most demanding contests. Wharfedale actually played tolerably well. There was fight and discipline to their play, physical challenge in the tackle, and aggression in the loose which largely countered the intensity of the Barking forwards.

And even in retreat at the set piece, Wharfedale made a better fist of the scrummage than the unlucky second half substitute referee.

The original official Mr Dale Newitt mysteriously failed to appear after the interval. His replacement, Ms Claire Daniels, was necessarily heavily reliant on touch-judge help.

She often positioned herself on the far side of the scrum when the determining action of not only the set-piece but also the match as a whole was being played out on the loose-head side.

Hardly the level of officiating a contest of this magnitude required despite her general quiet and unassuming competence overall.

So despite the loss Wharfedale can consider their performance a worthy one – the sort of decent honest play that more often then not on another day would bring reward.

The future is brighter than a week ago. Barking: A Armstrong; D Vincent, S Alfeld, K Sorrell, S Shaw; H Owens, L Greatrex; E Ambrose, M Bloomberg, A McKenzie, D Lloyd-Jones T Benjamin; A Andrews, J Kellard, Lee Griffiths

Wharfedale: S Horsfall; C Black, A Whaites, C Malherbe, A Lovatt; T Davidson, P Woodhead (W Bell 72); C Steele. I Larkin, B Hooper (M Chivers 67); R Rhodes, R Brown (O Renton 56); A Allen (D Hughes 56), D Solomi, T Vaioleti Referee: D Newitt (Claire Daniels h/t)