WHARFEDALE will go into another testing National Division Two league game against Stourbridge at The Avenue tomorrow with no baggage from last week's defeat at Orrell, (writes Tony Simpson).

Despite a 44-16 scoreline, director of rugby Michael Harrison remains reasonably upbeat about events at Edge Hall Road, where he feels the Greens did a passable job. The fact that the visitors were 16-13 ahead at one stage in the second-half underlines the reasons for his optimistic mood.

"I didn't think we played at all badly," he says. "I could complain about the fact that we lost the ball too easily in the second-half and that when they spread the ball wide, we didn't fan out as quickly as we should have.

"We were probably a bit nave in some of our defensive play, but then Orrell have a very gifted back division and there is no position on the field where they are not prepared to handle the ball and attack. While we defended the normal danger areas OK, we didn't react as well when they moved the ball through three pairs of hands and then started to look for openings.

"They obviously spotted an area where we were wanting and exploited it, but looking purely at our performance set against our own capabilities, we played fairly well."

The return to action of captain Andy Hodgson at centre after injury is a boost for the Dalesmen."

Wharfedale: J Davies; G Smithson, A Hodgson, D Whitfield, C Burnett; A Baggett, G Smith; P Peel, J Lawn, C Ingram, D Lister, A Capstick, R Kirkbride/S Allen, H Verity, P Evans. Replacements: N Dickinson, G Hindle, P Hargreaves, N Heseltine.