Wharfedale 38, Loughborough Students 20

LOUGHBOROUGH coach Dave Morris gave warm congratulations to Wharfedale after their SSE National League One victory as he admitted: "It was fully deserved.

"They dominated the set-piece and their physicality was the basis of their win."

The Greens started the scoring after a great break from his own 22 by Taylor Prell drew an offside decision. Tom Davidson pushed the ball deep into the opposition 22 and a successful catch and drive led to James Doherty going over behind his pack.

This was Dale's third line-out and they had won them all – evidence of hard work over the previous fortnight – and they also disrupted the students' line-outs.

However, Wharfedale allowed Loughborough into the game by squandering possession in their own 22 and then being penalised at the scrum, Joshua Sharp opening the visitors' scoring.

The Greens were again pushed back into their own 22 soon after the restart when a Loughborough penalty made good use of the wind.

Dale won the line-out but then lost possession and their opponents made good use of an overlap to the left, with Jonathan Short – despite a desperate tackle from Prell – crossing the line wide out .

The Greens were then made to pay for their only lost line-out as the students, having missed a penalty, capitalised on a 22 drop-out to commit home players to a ruck, giving Sharp the chance to score under the posts. Sharp converted to make it 15-5.

A succession of penalties led to yellow cards for two students and breaks by Oliver Cicognini and Doherty were followed up by Davidson, who scored to the right of the posts and added the conversion.

With Loughborough still reduced to 13 men, Dale opened the scoring in the second half with a well-taken try wide out on the left by Prell, Davidson making light of the windy conditions by slotting a superb conversion to give the hosts a 19-15 advantage.

This was the start of Wharfedale domination with tries coming at regular intervals, Scott Jordan's score bringing the bonus point.

The next was pure muscle from the pack, Richard Rhodes scoring and Davidson converting brilliantly from near the touchline before also adding the extras to a penalty try.

Tom Burridge was then sin-binned following a melee after the try and Short cashed in for the visitors with a converted reply.

Wharfedale: Taylor Prell; Scott Jordan (Philip Woodhead 70), Matt Van Sertima, Tom Davidson, Oliver Cicognini; Luke Stevenson, James Doherty (c); Chris Steel (Matt Beesley 41), Ian Larkin (Dan Stockdale), Jake Armstrong (Chris Steel 68), Simon Willet (Jim Mason), Richard Rhodes, Adam Howard (Tom Burridge 41), Chris Howick, Josh Burridge.