Wharfedale 41

Blackheath 18

AN air of expectation permeated the crowd as the arrival of a team who appeared to be holed below the water line by the amount of points they had shipped in recent fixtures.

On their last visit to Yorkshire they had conceded over 100 points at Otley and with Wharfedale having won nine consecutive league games, often against formidable opposition, the prospect of points a plenty beckoned.

As is often the case it is dangerous to presume the inevitable. Blackheath are a proud old club first marking out the bounds of a pitch amid the heath's 267 acre south London expanse when Dalesmen were either tending sheep on snowbound fells or following veins of lead within a subterranean labyrinth.

Despite the club's past pre-eminence, many of its current players are of very recent vintage; none had played in the premiership two league three years ago and the side was scarcely recognisable from the one which had defeated Wharfedale at the Rectory field in September.

Perhaps they were following an ancient tradition of mustering new recruits on the heath first established by Wat Tyler as he prepared for the peasants revolt of 1381.

A tale, possibly apocryphal, floated round the ground was that one of the Blackheath substitutes, Wil Scrivens, was a direct descendant of Wat.

Spectators were surprised to see the unmistakable gait of former England prop Jeff Probyn waddle onto the field. Last heard of in Barking, he was still up to his old tricks in the back row but a combination of the passage of time and a confrontation with the Cumbrian colossus Richard Lancaster largely neutralised his potential to make mischief.

In the early exchanges both sides were eager to move the ball around. From the first skirmish Blackheath were awarded a penalty, crisply struck by fly half Keith McClean to give them a 3-0 lead.

Wharfedale instantly replied following a series of rucks and slick handling fanning both left and right before Jonathon Davies provided the detonator to blast a gap and Andy Hodgson was over in a trice.

Blackheath replied with equal immediacy, seizing on a standside turnover, with hooker Bernard Carroll bursting down a narrow corridor to score. There then followed a phase of more controlled rugby, with Wharfedale taking the lion's share of possession. Twice the black and red masses of entwined Blackheath bodies seemed to ripple and shade, having been undermined by Neil Dickinson's prodigious heaving and tugging to rip the ball free. The short pop passes were going well, John Lawn back to his impish best. But as so often it was the incomparable Verity whose workrates assumed epic proportions.

This period of play produced the most precise and clinical of Wharfedale's six tries. It began with Lister's agility and elasticity in the line, continued through to pure simplicity of half back passes for Heseltine to release the electricity of Andy Hodgson, stealing like a green laser to the posts in acres of space. Mounsey converted to make the score 12-8.

Blackheath were not in the mood for another rout and responded with vigour. They had a strong pack who began to use their brawn to test the Wharfedale tackling. Some carelessness by Wharfedale yielded some turnovers and suddenly they were playing with confidence. Especially prominent were the captain Chris Wilkins, eagerly supported by a shaggy haired open side Greg Ellis.

Blackheath were abrasive and physical at close quarters and also tackled with fierce intent.

There was to be one other first half try and several close calls. There were even some individual party pieces, a rare Vyvyan dummy, a well measured raking punt from Lawn and a bit of nifty footwork from former Lancashire schools soccer player Russ Buckroyd. The latter also experimented with an overhead flip pass which he has yet to perfect.

The decisive breach came from Graham Smith, finished with zest by Ben Whitfield. Mounsey converted to produce a 19-8 interval score.

Blackheath began the half well with some forward drives as straight as the old Roman road to Dover that used to cross the heath but this was not to be sustained. They did play with spirit to the end but were only to visit the Wharfedale half intermittently.

Whenever they did a tackle by Hodgson, yet another tackle but defensive rock Dave Whitfield, or a repeat rip from Dickinson was usually enough to avert the danger.

There was to be much pressure at the river end. The sequence of penalties, line out, drive, ruck and scrum are greatly erosive to the body and spirit of the unfortunate recipients. Such was the churning hurly burly of one of the Wharfedale drives that the referee was caught up in the body machine mixer and lost both his whistle and sight of the try.

However the score came very soon after with a catch and drive from the ever reliable Paul Evans.

When yet another penalty came Mounsey's boot was called upon to guarantee the points. Three substitutes came on midway through the half to add some new dynamics. Sam Allen for Vyvyan, Craig Ingram for Lancaster and Craig Ecclestone for Ben Whitfield. Buckroyd produced a burst full of buffet and bombast and Andy Hodgson sliced through with searing pace to score for Mounsey's conversion to make it 34-8.

Another score was to come after Hodgson and a ground- eating gallop from Lister had put Wharfedale back on the offensive. A well rehearsed blind side routine resulted in Smith putting Mounsey over in the corner, which he improved to take his total for the afternoon to 16 points.

Andy Hodgson has now scored in seven consecutive league games this time collecting a hat-trick. He is well on course to become the league's leading try scorer and Adam Mounsey is hot on the heels of Otley's Dan Clappison in the race for the leading marksman.

Elsewhere in the league there were wins for all the top three. Birmingham/Solihull again scraped home by a narrow margin beating Bracknell 21-18. The confrontation with Birmingham is likely to be an epic on March 18. Local rivals Harrogate have been going very well of late and may yet have a say in the promotion race.

They are themselves in fourth place and have to play both Wharfedale and Birmingham. They could yet do Wharfedale a favour!

This week there is no first team game.

Wharfedale: J Davies; A Mounsey, A Hodgson, D Whitfield, B Whitfield (C Ecclestone); N Heseltine, G Smith; R Lancaster (C Ingram), J Lawn, N Dickinson, D Lister, P Evans, R Buckroyd, H Verity, C Vyvyan (S Allen)

Blackheath: J Boyle, T Wakeham, D Fitzgerald, S Ridsdell, A Razek, K McLean, R Powell; J Probyn, B Carroll, M Hathaway, D Walters, G Ruskin, P Goodey, C Ellis, C Wilkins.

Referee: E Woodmason.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.