Reeling from last week’s poor performance against Tynedale, Wharfedale supporters will be looking for real improvement when the team travels to Fylde on Saturday (kick-off 3pm). And they are not alone in that.

“What we offered up last Saturday was simply not acceptable” said coach Tom McGee, “and I want to apologise to our fans on behalf of the management and the players.

"It would be an understatement to say that we have been working very, very hard in training and we do not intend to make the same mistakes again.”

McGee is giving the squad their own chance to make amends, with just one change. In the pack James Tyson takes over from Alastair Allen, who is on duty at the altar. Altham and Howard are preferred in the starting line-up to Tampin and Mason, who are on the bench.

Wharfedale won the corresponding match by 17-14 last September with a last-minute try in a heart-stopping thriller.

Since then, sixth-placed Fylde’s season has been a mixed bag: after conceding eight tries at Tynedale, in their last two home matches they scored seven tries against Richmond and failed to score at all against Loughborough.

Then last week they won at Blackheath, so the Wharfedale supporters will know the magnitude of the task their team faces.

Wharfedale: Lloyd Davies; Nick Taylor, Joe Donkin, Andy Hodgson, Simon Horsfall; Luke Gray, James Gough; Joe Altham, Steve Graham, Adam Howard, Richard Brown, Richard Rhodes, Jim Mason, San Solomi, James Tyson. Replacements: Mark Tampin, Ian Larkin, Adam Mason, Chris Howick, Will Bell.