Northallerton 2nds 11

Wharfedale Development 78

YORKSHIRE Merit League – Championship North leaders Wharfedale Development had a comprehensive 78-11 win at Northallerton 2nds on Saturday.

From the start, Wharfedale soaked up early pressure from the sizeable Northallerton pack but as soon as possession was overturned the ball went quickly across the Greens' backline for winger Adam Stockdale to finish in the corner, a try superbly converted by Jonathan Davies.

The next score went to Sam Arkwright on the other wing, using his strength and speed to bulldoze his way over.

Northallerton came back with a brief foray into the Dale half and took a cheeky drop goal to make it 12-3.

But the first half belonged to the men in green who used quick ball intelligently; outflanking their heavier opponents at every opportunity.

The next score saw Davies put Rhodes in space for a converted try.

Then came the first of a hat-trick for Ollie Bullock, who smashed through the middle, scattering would be tacklers, to cross under the posts for another converted try.

Northallerton secured possession from the restart and took advantage of Wharfedale indiscipline to score a penalty.

The next score saw Sam Arkwright offload in the tackle for Rhodes to score again, making it 31-6 to Wharfedale.

When a pushover try was expected from the Dale scrum, scrum half John Davidson caught everyone napping picking up to dart in at the corner.

The highlight of the half though was a move by Davies that saw him sprint 40 metres under the posts. The conversion made it 43-6.

Davies was not finished and with the final play of the half he broke through again and offloaded to Will Smith who broke a couple of tackles to score.

With a half-time score at 50-6, Wharfedale made personnel and positional changes and the contest was even for opening 20 minutes of the second half.

Northallerton camped on Dale’s goal line, recycling the ball well and scored a well-deserved try.

Bullock then scored his second try, converted by Will Davidson, who then made the most of a quick tap penalty to score a try and convert.

With ten minutes left, James Huck scored and Bullock completed his hat-trick, both tries converted by Rhodes to make the final score 78-11.