Skipton 15 Wensleydale 0

WELL, it wasn't Skipton's best performance, it must be said, but a win's a win for all that.

A dead-calm November afternoon greeted the teams at Sandylands for this Yorkshire Division Four encounter.

The Skipton pack pushed Wensleydale off the ball in an early scrum and the put in was reversed in the home side's favour. This set the scene for their overall dominance up front which they should really have capitalised on to win by a wider margin.

Good play by full back Matty Langstaff put centre Liam Jordan over for a sweet try early on, converted by the ever-reliable boot of Luke Stockton.

To Wensleydale's credit they were well drilled in the line-out and out played Skipton in this aspect of the game. Skipton were lucky to escape a points claw-back by Wensleydale as two penalties in quick succession for not releasing the ball both went wide of the posts.

Good work by Stockton, Langstaff and Jordan kept Wensleydale at bay and at half-time the score remained 7-0 to the home side.

The second half saw forwards Jordan Wilson and Chris Sheenan go off. Stuart Barraclough replaced his brother Shaun at scrum half as he moved to hooker. Chris Wright came on as prop and Stockton moved into the back row to give the home side's scrum further stability.

Charlie Brown put in another stalwart effort with untiring work at wing forward but Skipton seemed to enter a flat period for the third quarter of the game, and a yellow card for a deliberate knock on didn't help.

Skipton were then awarded two free kicks in succession for not straight at the scrum by Wensleydale. This took Skipton right up the pitch to Wensleydale's line where forward Paddy Murray was unlucky not to take the ball over. He picked up an injury in the process and had to leave the field.

Excellent forward work from the resulting scrum saw Ben Hall seal the game with a late try for the home side. Stockton had the last kick of the match with penalty.