Wharfedale 20, Newbury 5
Despite prop Kane Palma-Newport and No 8 Ed Jackson needing treatment to cut heads after an accidental clash during the warm-up, the Newbury pack held the ascendancy in the set-pieces.
But the difference between the sides was that Wharfedale took their chances.
The Greens grabbed a 10-0 lead after fly half Mark Bedworth intercepted a wild pass on half-way and romped through for a converted score before accepting the second gift of a straightforward penalty.
Newbury turned down four kickable penalties and went further behind when Dale centre Chris Malherbe touched down after slick inter-passing with flanker Dan Solomi.
Newbury’s Mike Mangeolles hit back with a try before the Greens added to their tally in the second half with a mauled try through hooker Steve Graham.
Wharfedale felt sure they had ‘scored’ twice in the minutes preceding Graham’s try when winger Iain Dixon was ruled to have not grounded and a snap penalty and touch-down by Rob Baldwin was strangely disallowed.
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