Articles by JDriver

The Greens had an enjoyable day up in the North East with both the 1^st Team and the Foresters winning comfortably and only some light rain and a gentle breeze to spoil a perfect afternoon.

In the 1^st team match Blaydon started well and took advantage of a couple of missed tackles to power down the pitch to land a try for Alex Clark after 2 minutes. John Clarkson added the conversion to give Blaydon a 7-point lead. Sadly, for the home side that was their only score.

Dale opened their account with a penalty from Tom Mann …

A really entertaining game of rugby was just edged by the visitors thanks to a fortunate rebound off the post which fell to a Hull player to score.

Like last season at the Avenue a draw looked like being a fair result as both sides were resolute in defence.

Hull took the lead early on with two successful penalties from the boot of Lewis Minikin. Dale were trying to play an expansive game of rugby but mistakes allowed I’s to keep them clear of the try line. Three forward passes cost Dale any chance of breaking through and they were …

A match that started with a respectful silence to remember Harrogate’s faithful servant Bill Barrack and HRH Queen Elizabeth ended with Dale securing a second five-point victory. The travelling faithful were strong in number and were in good voice as Wharfedale started where they left off last week.

Early pressure saw a defensive kick being charged down in Gate’s 22 and Sam Gaudie reacted quickly to pounce on the ball for an unconverted score. More pressure from Dale reaped a couple of penalties and Tom Mann, making his first start at 10 in a League Match for Dale, soon had …

Rugby returned to the Avenue and a good crowd were treated to an eleven try festival. At times the home side played some sublime rugby. Sweeping moves that involved a host of players with good running and supporting players ready to move the play forward.

The visitors took an early lead with a Ben Pearson penalty before Wharfedale started to open up. Great play by Sam Gaudie took the ball deep into the visitor`s 22 and a penalty was awarded. A quick tap saw Matt Beesley barge over for an unconverted score. Pearson took Hoppers back into the lead with …

On a blustery windy day Wharfedale entertained Blackburn in a friendly pre-season match which would include up to 30 players for new Head Coach Simon Verbickas to assess.

The game was split into three 30 minute sessions of which Blackburn won the toss and kicked off with the slope and wind.

After sustained pressure through multiple penalties and possession, Blackburn opened the scoring with a well worked try by Jake Foster, converted by Josh Jarrod

The rest of the period was stalemate until Jake Foster crossed in the corner and Josh Jarrod converted to make the score 0 – 14.…

Pre-season friendly

Another hot day at the Avenue greeted Billingham from the North East. Wharfedale struggled to show any fluency early on and were guilty of some sloppy play and allowed the visitors to score two converted tries in the first 20 minutes to lead by 14 points. Dale then started to improve and a break by Harry Bullough and a kick ahead by James Coulton led to Bullough himself scoring. Ben Blackwell converted.

More shocking play followed by the home side and Billingham touched down again for an unconverted try to leave the score 7 – 19. Dale then …