What a lovely weekend for Wharfedale’s Press Officer and the Sponsorship Secretary to spend some time, with their wives, in Corbridge. Castles, Abbeys and an Antiques Fair were visited and the weather was lovely and warm. Eventually the group arrived at Tynedale Park in time for a Bacon Butty and the match between the two Dales.

The match started brightly for the visitors and Wharfedale started well. They soon had an attacking lineout in Tynedale’s 22. Clean ball was moved forward by the pack, then spread left and Oli Cicognini barged through midfield to touch down under the posts. Archie Haddon slotted the extras to register his first league points for Wharfedale.

The home side did not take long to level the scores with a try by Jake Rodgers converted by Cam Grant. The Greens then spent some time under pressure. They presented Tynedale with attacking opportunities by either having kicks charged down or kicking and giving Tynedale room and time to attack. So it was that Tynedale scored twice (Will Miller and Charlie Richards) with one conversion to lead 19 to 7.

Two high tackles gave Wharfedale excellent field position and an attacking lineout 6 metres from the try line. The pack worked superbly and an efficient catch and drive was rewarded with Robbie Collinson touching down for a converted try. The visitors were given two opportunities for shots at goal from penalties but opted to go for the corner. Tynedale were allowed to disrupt the driving maul and escaped into the changing rooms leaving Wharfedale very frustrated.

At the start of the second half, Tynedale took their opportunity of a penalty in front of the posts and Cam Grant extended the lead to 8 points. More penalties followed and good kicking saw Wharfedale back in defence. That defence then stood and watched as Will Miller scored his second of the match, converted by Grant.

Hope for the visitors was restored with two good turnovers and a break by Brad Viner. Alfie Weston was in support and touched down for an unconverted try. Wharfedale were now playing well and a blistering break by Ben Blackwell should have led to a try. Instead, the ball was knocked forward by the last player in defence but…….the same player managed to catch the ball and Tynedale soon were camped on the visitor’s line.

Wharfedale were clearly getting frustrated; the decisions seemed to go against them. They deserved at least a try bonus point but three more converted tries by Tynedale left them losing by 31 points and the ignominy of a team scoring 50 against them.

At least we enjoyed Corbridge and the surrounding countryside.

Wharfedale Bullough; Viner, Blackwell, Cicognini, Howarth; Haddon, Kaup-Samuels (Morgan 58); Dickinson (Meehan 63), Stockdale (Collinson 22), Armstrong, Heys, Hedgley (c), Beecroft, Weston (Borrill 56), Fawcett (Tweedale 30)