WHARFEDALE were in a dark place last Saturday – and coach Tom McGee wasn't just talking about the biblical weather.

The Greens may have lost 12-9 to a 78th-minute try at home to Plymouth Albion to sink to the bottom of National League One but McGee reckons that the spirit and togetherness his team showed after the interval can prove a catalyst as they kept the visitors scoreless for 38 minutes playing into the teeth of a gale.

He said: "Mentally you have to go to to dark places to better yourself and grow as a group."

While admitting that the try that Albion scored just before half-time to pull the score back to 9-7 was a blow and that the Greens hadn't scored enough points before the interval, he said: "We have been calm as coaches so far this season but we laid into them at half-time, saying that we didn't want another match where we fell away in the second half.

"But the forwards and the backs showed a togetherness that was better than anything we have seen this season, and we can grow from that.

"We were really resolute and went through 20 or 30 phases, gaining six inches at a time, only to lose the game in a cruel fashion."

McGee said of the weather: "I am from the Highlands (Thurso), so I felt quite at home, but for Yorkshire it was bad.

"Andy Hodgson and myself spent an hour sweeping water off the pitch as we wanted the match to be played.

"In the first half, the wind must have been 50mph or 60mph blowing straight down the field. You were in danger of kicking the ball dead from your try line.

"I have known it be cold, I have seen the wind blow and I have seen rain fall but never a combination of the three like there was last Saturday."

Wharfedale make two changes on Saturday at Hull Ionians, Cameron Hudson returning at centre, while Ali Wade is at prop.

Wharfedale: Max Labasse; Matt Van Sertima, Cameron Hudson, Huw Morgan, Will Davidson; Jamie Guy, Will Bell; Joe Altham, Steve Graham, Ali Wade, George Hedgley, Simon Willet, Alex Powell, Josh Burridge (capt), Rob Baldwin. Replacements: Matt Beesley, Dan Stockdale, Ricardo Cano, Nathan Myers, Oliver Fewtrell.