WHARFEDALE have obtained what is effectively a pardon from the RFU Disciplinary Committee for flanker Hedley Verity after he was sent to the sin-bin during their recent game at Kendal.

The Dalesmen stumped up £100 to make their appeal on the grounds that Verity's act of retaliation on a Kendal player, though not justified, was understandable.

With the match referee not spotting any offence, he issued a yellow card to both Verity and a Kendal player, the Wharfedale man for retaliating and the home player for stamping on him in the first place.

The report stated that Verity's shoulder area had been stamped on by his opponent because he was on the wrong side of a ruck, the act of retaliation being deemed unreasonable on the basis that the player should expect such treatment if he puts himself in that position.

"We have never felt that anyone has a right to stamp on a player at any time, no matter where he is on the ground, and it is something we would never coach or condone," says coach Peter Hartley: "In this case the fact was that Hedley needed several stitches to a wound on his head rather than his shoulder and while retaliation cannot be approved of, in the circumstances, we felt that it was not difficult to understand why he would react so vigorously."

This viewpoint was put to the Disciplinary Committee, who accepted Wharfedale's interpretation of events, although they were not prepared to wipe the slate clean completely.

The ruling given was that the yellow-card would be removed from Verity's record and instead set against the cumulative tally of the club, which would still be required to pay the standard £25 fine for having a player in the sin-bin.

In practical terms, the ruling is one which Verity will value. He was sent to the sin-bin the following week as the first man to transgress by killing the ball after a general warning and had the Kendal censure been allowed to stand, he would have been operating on the margin for the rest of the season.

Three visits to the sin-bin bring an automatic one-match suspension - not the kind of threat that a player of Verity's fearless demeanour needs hanging over him as he practices his art in the darker areas of the second-phase game.

After their victory last weekend, the Dalesmen would doubtless have wanted to keep the pot boiling with another meaningful game tomorrow, but the Cup defeat at Nuneaton, coupled with the absence of sensible opposition from the fixture pool, has cost them that possibility.

In any event, they have Andy Hodgson and Anthony Capstick both nursing injuries which will benefit from a week's rest, John Lawn is on RFU business and Ryan Kirkbride is needed by Rotherham to play for their academy side.

"It's a shame we can't get back into action after last week's win, but there was no obvious fixture for us to take on and there is no point risking anything with a pointless match, much as we all want to play," says Hartley.