Wharfedale RU
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Greens hope it’s third time lucky
Wharfedale are hoping to finally get to play a game against league new boys Westcombe Park who visit The Avenue on Saturday.
The teams had two previous fixtures at the Greens' Threshfield ground cancelled because of inclement weather.
Their December 15 match was postponed because of frost and the re-scheduled game on February 2 was called off because of a snowbound pitch.
And although Wharfedale coach Peter Hartley said Saturday's forecast is not brilliant he is expecting the game will be played.
If it is not, he said it would be a first in the club's history to have three matches against the same team in one season to be postponed.
Westcombe Park will make the long journey up from Kent by train on Saturday morning and to allow them to leave by train the same day, Wharfedale have accommodated the visitors by moving their kick-off forward to 2.30pm.
The club will still hold the pre-match showing of the Henley game, the match that effectively secured Wharfedale's National Two status, on the big screen in the clubhouse at 1.30pm.
The Greens will likely want to forget last week's performance at Waterloo, which saw them get thrashed 30-8 by the home team who had put out their strongest side of the season.
Hartley said: "They were a better side than we expected.
"They were playing at the top of their game and we weren't."
Hartley added: "It was also the first game we had played without feeling the threat of relegation. Perhaps we were a little bit off where we wanted to be."
The tries, conversions and penalties mounted up quickly against Wharfedale in the first half and they found themselves trailing 30-3 after four minutes in the second half.
After that Hartley said the Greens played reasonably well as their defence kept Waterloo from scoring any more points and Wharfedale scored a well-worked try of their own.
With home games and one away match yet to play in the league, Hartley wants the Greens to finish the season strongly.
"We need to get back to the standards we set ourselves the previous six weeks. You have to be very near your best every week, because if you're not you stand a chance of losing."
While Wharfedale know very little about Westcombe Park, Hartley said that this is not always a disadvantage as it allows the Greens to concentrate on their own performance.
With Andy Hodgson out with an injury and Luke Gray unable to attend training this week, Neil Baggett is in the starting line-up on Saturday. Gray drops to the bench.
In the forwards Alastair Allen replaces David Clements, who drops to the bench, and Rob Baldwin comes in for Dave Muckalt.
WHARFEDALE: Adam Whaites; Simon Horsfall, Mark Bedworth, Chris Malherbe, Neil Baggett; Andy Baggett (c), James Doherty; Tom Horner, Gavin Hindle, Chris Steel, David Lister, Anthony Capstick, Alastair Allen, Sam Sticher, Rob Baldwin. Replacements: Ben Fear, Fraser Lovatt, David Clements and Luke Gray.
1:25pm Thursday 20th March 2008
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