LEGENDARY golfer Gary Player once said: The harder you work, the luckier you get.

Wharfedale's 38-20 home victory over Loughborough Students last Saturday in SSE National League One certainly wasn't down to luck – but it was down to a lot of hard work.

After three straight batterings, in which they conceded a total of 154 points, Greens head coach Jon Feeley was able to reflect on a victory.

"Their coach (Dave Morris) said some very nice things about us afterwards and it was music to my ears," said Feeley.

"But I would like to think that it was down to the hard work we have been putting in at training.

"We won our first three line-outs and, for the first time this season, we disrupted a lot of the opposition's line-outs.

"We have also been targeting our defence and we took advantage of their two sin-binnings."

Wharfedale scored two converted tries while the students were short-handed and Feeley reflected: "People say in football that it is harder to play against ten than 11.

"It can also be difficult to play against 14 in rugby union as they are going to put in extra effort for those ten minutes – but we made it pay."

However, it was the physicality of the home pack that was really the key. They were rewarded with a pushover try by Richard Rhodes and a penalty try, which Feeley feels sent out an important psychological message in the closing minutes of the match.

Wharfedale skipper James Doherty was also delighted, saying: "This was an outstanding performance. It was a great reaction to the disappointments of the last few weeks. There had been full contributions of the whole team from one to 20.

"Rugby is a simple game and if we do the simple things right, we can build and dominate.”

The four props were superb, as was Doherty behind a strong pack, while Taylor Prell made a significant contribution and fly half Luke Stevenson seems to be growing into the game at this level, with good distribution and secure tackling.

Feeley said: "Luke had been playing well for the Foresters before his call-up and he is a work in progress as we are looking for small improvements each game."

The Dalesmen now turn their attention to Saturday's trip to winless second-bottom side Old Albanians.

They make one enforced change, Tom Burridge being brought back into the starting line-up in the back row for the injured Adam Howard. Alex Powell is named on the bench after strong displays for the second string.

Wharfedale: Taylor Prell; Scott Jordan, Matt Van Sertima, Tom Davidson, Oliver Cicognini; Luke Stevenson, James Doherty; Chris Steel, Ian Larkin, Jake Armstrong, Simon Willet, Richard Rhodes, Tom Burridge, Josh Burridge, Chris Howick. Replacements: Matt Beesley, Dan Stockdale, Jim Mason, Alex Powell, Phil Woodhead.