Wharfedale 22 Harrogate 14

A VISIT from rivals from east of Menwith provided a piquant focus for Wharfedale anxious to garner more success after running into the Birmingham steamroller the week before writes Ian Douglass.

Harrogate arrived with their stock high after a series of impressive victories. The early warning qualities of those prominent Menwith golf balls were not necessary to help Wharfedale prepare for what they already knew would be a stern test.

As with so many derbies, the quality of the fare did not match the mouth-watering menu: Wharfedale had the lion's share of possession in the first half but lacked edge and precision. A slight delay arriving at the ruck, the want of an extra body to scatter opponents allowed Harrogate to slow down the delivery of the ball which often had to be winkled rather than whizzed out.

Wharfedale were to produce flickers of fluidity and some flashes of individual imagination with produced spasmodic clamour from the stand.

Neil Heseltine kicked well to the touch lines and embarked on a 30 metre dash, picking his way through the traffic with the elan of a Parisian taxi driver.

His partner Graham Smith was also eager to exploit a low level route between a forest of legs of the towering redwoods in the Harrogate pack.

A lot of the game was being played in the Harrogate half but the onus was on the team to collect some points with the wind behind them.

It was Wharfedale who took a deserved lead through an Adam Mounsey penalty.

A string of penalties gave Wharfedale ample opportunity to work the kick to the corner and driven lineout routine which has yielded an almost guaranteed dividend all season. However, the co-ordination and power piston leg action was not quite up to its customary performance and Harrogate held the Greens at bay.

They were soon to be exultant as they took the lead with a try of clinical simplicity. From a lineout a miss move in the centre and in strode Ed Smithies for an excellent try which had no need of endorsement by the addition of triumphalist gesticulations. Matt Duncombe converted to make the score 7-3.

Harrogate were now playing with verve and desire. Their forwards subjected the Dale to some of their own medicine down in river corner.

Captain Rhys Morgan became a serial dummy specialist requiring some last ditch defence but some ill discipline provided relieving penalties and there was always the incomparable Hedley Verity to wrest the ball away and burst free.

Wharfedale reduced the deficit with another Mounsey penalty but Harrogate ended the half on the attack and were within a whisker of another score when the whistle came.

Mounsey, whose goal kicking is normally so reliably metronomic, missed a couple of penalties to general disbelief but hopes were raised by Dave Lister and Paul Evans picking and driving but the quality of recycling was not sharp enough and the brooding presence of Andy Hodgson, the scalpel, was never able to cut loose.

Indeed, it was that man Smithies who put added pep into the visitors as a quick ruck and fast hands released him perfectly for another fine try for Duncombe to convert.

On the brink of victory, Harrogate seemed to shy away because the last quarter belonged to Wharfedale.

The scrummage, a trifle jittery at the start, was back to restore its credibility and Richard Lancaster's considerable presence as a second half substitute provided a massive bulwark in the front row.

The ball came quicker from all phases and if it had been used a little wider then more than the solitary try might have accrued.

Mounsey struck a penalty and then Jonathan Davies scored wide out with a solo effort. The fullback, who played with real energy all afternoon, took his umpteenth high kick and burst through. Approaching Smithies he appeared to be setting up for a chip ahead without it ever being executed, thus the new tactic of the dummy kick was born. Smithies was bamboozled and Davies was in for the try which Mounsey converted to put Wharfedale 16-14 ahead.

Further assaults on the Harrogate line, one a Verity special, caught their backs offside as they sought to check the threat of Hodgson and Mounsey again collected the three points.

Tony Jackson, the Durham University captain, came on for Buckroyd and immediately made his impact. Harrogate were becoming a touch truculent and, despite numerous huddles, demonstrating that they come from a conference town, their powers were wilting.

Another Mounsey penalty provided an eight point cushion and the game ended with Wharfedale firmly in control.

News filtered through that Birmingham had been held to a draw at Newbury. They have not made that second promotion spot yet and with Wharfedale determined to sign off with wins against Nottingham and Lydney, hopes are still high down Threshfield way that England's second city will come third!

Wharfedale: Davies; Mounsey, Hodgson, D Whitfield, B Whitfield; Heseltine, Smith; Ingram, Lawn, Dickinson, Lister, Evans, Buckroyd, Verity, Vyvyan. Substitutes (all played) Lancaster, Jackson, Gilbert.

Harrogate: Smithies; Farrar, Reed, Douglas, Smith; Duncombe, Morgan; Faulknor, Whyley, Wilson, Taylor, Clark, Wordon, Woodhouse, Baker. Substitutes: McNeish, Tapster, Boyle.

Referee: M Wilson.

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