WHARFEDALE TRAVEL TO Nottingham tomorrow without two of their more influential players, flanker Tony Jackson and fly-half David Pears, but still boasting an unbeaten run of five league games and holding second place in the National Division Two league table.

Jackson is ruled out with a groin strain, while Pears has a recurrence of a calf problem. Both are hoping that they will be fit to resume after a week's lay-off, but have accepted medical advice that a rest would be a sensible option.

Their absence brings the hugely-experienced Paul Evans into the side at blind-side flanker, while Andy Baggett takes the No 10 shirt. He made that switch last weekend when Pears had to go off and was able to blend sensible option taking with a continued defensive appetite.

His move to fly-half brings David Whitfield into the centre alongside Chris Malherbe.

In the front-row James Ogden takes over from Gavin Hindle, but otherwise the mix is as before, with Adam Oldfield, Craig Ingram, Frazer Lovatt and Ben Pattinson on replacement duty.

The Dalesmen travel to the Midlands with what coach Peter Hartley describes as 'a patchy performance' against Esher behind them.

"We didn't play that well for parts of the game and they scored two good tries by putting together phases of play," said Hartley. "But we had two chances and we took them. When we were under pressure in the closing minutes, we defended as well as anyone could have expected. It was a grafted win rather than a crafted one."

One major plus point for the Greens is the fact that they currently have the best defensive record in the league going into what is sure to be an increasingly difficult stretch of games.

The Greens have conceded less points than anyone else in the division, although their scoring ratio isn't too spicy at this stage.

"Our points against statistics reflect the quality of our defensive work so far, but the points scored does not tell of the chances we have created." says Hartley. "We've done better than the table suggests in terms of engineering openings, but we need to improve our finishing.

"So far as Nottingham are concerned, I expect us to be involved in a more open game than usual. They have been recruiting, have run in a few tries and also have a decent goal-kicker, so we will need to be at our best to come away with a win."

Wharfedale: J Davies; G Johnston, D Whitfield, C Malherbe, P Salashouri; A Baggett, S Cottrell; P Peel, J Ogden, N Dickinson, A Capstick, D Lister, P Evans, H Verity, B Wade. Replacements: A Oldfield, C Ingram, F Lovatt, B Pattinson.