Wharfedale RU
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Wharfedale battle in the wind, rain and mud to beat Southend
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| Wharfedale's Andy Baggett trudges through the mud at The Avenue on Saturday. The Greens beat Southend 24-7 with a solid performance in testing conditions. |
Wharfedale 24 Southend 7
For the third home match in succession Wharfedale earned a five-point maximum, the result hoisting them above Southend and into the top half of the table - territory not visited since early season.
Apart from the important fact that the Greens' pack yet again won the forward battle by a considerable distance, there was little similarity between this match and the free-flowing extravaganzas against Blackheath and Westcombe Park.
The wet and windy conditions - graduating into quagmire in the second half - mitigated decisively against a handling game.
It took a while for the Greens to come to terms with the conditions. Clearly believing that their confidently expansive style need not be cramped by a slippery ball, they flung it about with something approaching abandon in the opening quarter.
The cavalier approach almost paid off but a series of handling errors when tries beckoned, coupled with a defensive aberration that let in the visitors in for an interception try under the posts, saw them struggling at 7-5 down after half-an-hour.
Thereafter, however, the Dalesmen got a more controlled act together and, apart from a period just before the interval, when stern defence was required to repel a Southend surge, Wharfedale were rarely in danger of conceding further points. By the break they had built a decisive 19-7 lead.
They saw the second half through in relative comfort (if such a description can apply to a monsoon), sealing victory, and the bonus point, with a Chris Malherbe try in the 72nd minute.
Early frustration among fans as they watched chances slip away, changed to wholehearted support as the Greens adapted their game to the conditions to control the second half.
Coach Peter Hartley praised his team, rating the post-interval display as "at least as good as against Westcombe Park - probably better".
With just a mauled try (11 minutes), claimed by hooker Gavin Hindle, as return from a host of chances, things took an ominous turn when Southend's leading try-scorer, centre Soolefai Faapulou, pounced on a loose pass on the Greens' 22 to race in under the posts in the 16th minute. Winger Andrew Frost added the simple conversion.
However, by the time the visitors threatened seriously again, in first-half added time, sense had been injected into the scoreline by tries from flanker Rob Lednor (32mins), chasing a neat kick ahead by scrum-half James Doherty, and No 8 Rob Baldwin (39mins), whose 30-metre route-one charge to the line spreadeagled the Southend defence. Both tries were converted by skipper Andy Baggett.
Having achieved a two-score advantage - the least that might have been thought defendable against the elements in the second half - the Greens faced a determined onslaught by the visitors, who camped near the home line for three frenetic minutes. Stubborn defence prevailed in what would later be clearly seen as a defining confrontation.
The Greens left the field in buoyant mood - their opponents surely feeling that their best efforts were simply not going to be good enough.
The Dalesmen were forced into a half-time reorganisation with full-back Adam Whaites and prop Chris Steel ruled out of the restart with injuries.
Ben Fear replaced Steel, Andy Hodgson moved to full-back and Luke Gray took over on the wing. While the new formation was settling in, Southend, desperate for an early score to launch a possible comeback, twice forced their way into promising attacking positions.
Hodgson had to chase back to rescue the situation - at the expense of a five-metre scrum - when a loose ball was hacked through the defence, and minutes later a Greens' line-out ten metres from their line was for once not collected cleanly.
Both times the resultant scrum was tenaciously and successfully defended, and from then on, though the visitors never gave up. They were rarely allowed within striking distance of the home line.
With the Dalesmen's pack now dominant, and able to retain possession for long periods, the second half proceeded through the deepening mud and torrential rain in an increasingly predictable fashion.
Much of what Southend could offer in potential attack was negated by frequent turnovers in loose play. They fared no better in the set pieces, their line-outs and scrums regularly disrupted.
With 70 minutes gone, referee Nigel Higginson offered the captains an abandonment - the result would have stood at 19-7. Both nobly rejected the chance for an early warm bath - decisions that effectively resulted in the swapping of league positions, for Malherbe's bonus-point try followed shortly after.
A Southend scrum was taken against the head, and the ball was fed back to Mark Bedworth. The centre lofted a perfectly weighted angled ball into the arms of Gray - looking very much at home on the right wing. The youngster slipped a nifty pass inside to Malherbe, who brushed aside a tackle and completed a 20-metre dash to the line.
The two teams gamely squelched through the remaining minutes, Mr Higginson charitably overlooking' the addition of any stoppage time when signalling the end of a match that had been, against all the odds, compelling viewing throughout.
The generous applause as the barely distinguishable players trooped off reflected fans' appreciation of the professional efforts of both sides.
Wharfedale: A Whaites (L Gray 41); A Hodgson, C Malherbe, M Bedworth, S Horsfall; A Baggett, J Doherty; T Horner (P Altham 77), G Hindle, C Steel (B Fear 41), D Lister, A Capstick, A Allen, R Lednor, R Baldwin (D Clements 65).
Southend: S Hoult; T Lewis (M Billings 41), S Faapulou, C Green, A Frost; J Johnson, R Powell (M Stanley); M Williams (S North 70), N Pay, G Smith, A McLintock, C Waring (S Cook), R Gill, D Johnson, J Connors.
Referee: Nigel Higginson
2:32pm Thursday 3rd April 2008
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