Wharfedale 38 South Leicester 32

FOLLOWING the miserably lack-lustre performance at Tynedale, the Greens knew they had a point to prove – and how well they made it.

The team-work and spirit was back in abundance and, while the visitors made the Dalesmen work hard for every point and set up a nail-biting finale with a stirring fightback from 28-8 down to 33-32 by the start of the final quarter. the victory was well-deserved.

The match could hardly have had a more dramatic opening. The Leicester kick-off was safely claimed, centre Tom Davidson who broke into the visitors’ half.

Slick inter-passing at pace, with front-row men Jordan Poole and Ian Larkin prominent, ripped open the visitors’ defence. Flanker Lewis Wilson applied the finishing touch with less than 60 seconds played. Stand off Jamie Guy struck a confident conversion.

It took the visitors only a few minutes to recover their poise. The first scrum of the game resulted in a sixth-minute penalty – achieved with ominous ease by the powerful Leicester pack – and was duly converted by stand-off and skipper Ricky Aley. Five minutes later winger Gareth Clark broke through an over-stretched defence for an unconverted try, and Leicester were ahead 8-7.

The response was immediate from the Greens. A glorious purple patch produced three converted tries in a blistering 10-minute spell, leaving them apparently sitting pretty at 28-8 after 24 minutes.

First, prop Larkin, then wingers Olly Cicognini and Ralph Wellock, finished off sparkling moves that had Leicester reeling and home supporters – especially those who had endured the debacle at Tyndale – pinching themselves to check that a first-half bonus point was for real.

However, it quickly turned out that the visitors were not for rolling over. By the interval they had clawed back to 28-22 via a penalty try plus a fine score from substitute forward Gareth Turner, Aley converting both, and it was, most definitely, ‘game on’.

The second half contributed less points, but was still filled with tension. Aley took his personal tally to 12 points with a second penalty, plus the routine extras to his forwards’ second penalty try (62 mins).

Meantime, Davidson had crashed through for a try (51), temporarily establishing a two-score margin.

At 33-32, and plenty of time left, the result was on a knife-edge. No 8 Josh Burridge’s try (68 mins) eased home nerves, but the visitors were still within a score of victory.

However, it was becoming increasingly clear that the visitors’ previous scrum dominance was waning fast as they tired after being hauled all over the pitch by the speed with which the Greens’ backs switched direction.

Anyway, at last the Greens had parity in the forward battle and they were able to enjoy the better of the hectic closing exchanges.

Nevertheless, the jubilation that greeted the referee’s final whistle was mixed with a large measure of relief.

Head Coach James Doherty expressed his delight for the players in his post-match comments. “The performance was reward for their hard work and character – a typical Wharfedale response to last week’s disappointments, and I hope they take great belief from it.

"It was by no means a perfect performance; there were defensive lapses and inaccuracies, However, with ball in hand the players showed great ambition. Our accuracy is improving, and when we get things right we are a difficult team to stop.”

He also expressed his thanks to the Avenue faithful, who were “in great voice, and had a huge impact on the performance.”

Wharfedale: R Davidson; R Wellock, S Jordan, T Davidson, O Cicognini; W Lawn, J Guy; I Larkin (M Close 27), J Poole, T Asejevs, A Allen, E Ward, R Baldwin, L Wilson, J Burridge.