WHARFEDALE'S hopes of putting their name on this season's Yorkshire Cup received a useful boost on Wednesday when they were drawn at home in the semi-final against North Two East side Cleckheaton.

The tie will be played on Tuesday under floodlights with a 7.15 kick-off.

The second semi - between Otley and Harrogzte - will be played the following night at Cross Green, kick off 6.45.

A county match at The Avenue, a derby game between Wharfedale and North Ribblesdale at the same venue on Sunday and Skipton's final league game against Dinnington at Sandylands tomorrow provide a varied finale to the closing weekend of Rugby Union in Craven.

With Wharfedale involved in the semi-finals of the Yorkshire Cup, in addition to having men on duty tomorrow, selection for the end-of-season meeting with their Settle neighbours, is inevitably a complex affair.

There is always a jamboree element in the game, despite the derby connotations, and that usually leaves players keen to take part, but director of rugby Michael Harrison needs to keep the Yorkshire Cup at the top of his priority list.

Chances are that the Wharfedale line-up will be an amalgam of players, while North Ribblesdale are likely to have more of their senior players available.

Skipton will be hoping to write another page in their record books tomorrow when Dinnington are visitors to Sandylands.

The South Yorkshire side have been promoted from Yorkshire Division Two and since they are involved in the Yorkshire Shield final against Yarnbury at Morley next weekend, they may feel it wise to rest some of their senior men.

All of which will not bother Skipton and especially their leading scorer, Paul Lacy, who needs one try from tomorrow's game to set a new record for the club.

That currently stands at 34 and is credited to Charlie Branston, a regular watcher still at Sandylands, even though his proud record was set some 50 years ago.

One more try would do the job for Lacy and it's a fair bet that he'll be receiving more than his normal share of possession tomorrow.

It's also true to say that if the record falls, Mr Branston will be the first person to offer congratulations.

Skipton: D Howson; P Lacy, J Sharpe, A Porter, M Cox; A Oldfield, M Beech; R Birks, D Hayes, P Jenkinson, G Newhouse, A Winthrop, M Davison, I Scrivin, J Morgan. Replacements: C Wright, N King, M Wilson.