WHARFEDALE, who have lost their opening two National League One fixtures, have signed back-rower Richard Beck on an open-ended loan from Yorkshire Carnegie.

The 26-year-old has made 68 appearances for the Headingley club since 2009, but none since last February due to a shoulder injury which has now cleared up.

Now Beck will get the game time that he needs with the Greens and the opportunity to work once more with former Carnegie coach Tommy McGee.

Wharfedale's head coach said: "I have a good relationship with Yorkshire Carnegie and am delighted to be working again with Richard, who, were it not for the injuries he has suffered for the past one or two seasons, would probably be with a Premiership squad.

"Richard made his debut for the Foresters last weekend and not only will we get the chance to give him the match fitness that he needs but our younger players can also learn from him. He will fit in nicely."

Carnegie's director of rugby Chris Gibson said of Beck's move to The Avenue: "This was something Richard was keen to do and we are happy for him to join up with Wharfedale.

"He has had a tough run of injuries in recent times. However, we all know the quality that Richard possesses when he is fully fit and we look forward to seeing him continue his recovery."

Wharfedale, who are at Blaydon on Saturday (2.30), have had a tough start to the campaign, suffering losses at Coventry (41-14) and, last weekend, at home to Esher (46-26).

But McGee says it is within his players' power to fix any problems that have materialised, saying: "We have a good bunch of players but we need to be starting a bit better.

"The fact that we had all that pressure in the first 15 to 20 minutes against Esher and didn't score left them on a psychological high."

Esher conceded four yellow cards, and McGee revealed: "I asked the referee afterwards about whether we should have had penalty tries or Esher given more yellow cards and he explained that would have happened if we had been going forwards more positively, and I accept that."