Leeds scored two tries late in each half to rob Wharfedale of victory. Dale opened the match with some blistering rugby. They took the kick-off and then followed up the clearance kick and forced a scrum on half-way. They won the scrum, with a penalty advantage, and then Bradley Viner broke through the defence and offloaded to Harry Bullough who got the first try. Robbie Davidson converted to give Dale a 7-0 lead after 2 minutes. Wharfedale had a short spell of defence to undergo before mounting their next foray into Leeds territory. Robbie Davidson broke out of his 22 and with a bit more support could have reached the try line. The attack floundered but a succession of Leeds penalties allowed Davidson to have a shot at goal and extend their lead to 10 points. The next attack by the visitors looked promising until a fine tackle by Viner was followed by a jackle by Bullough. The home side clung on to the lead until 4 minutes into stoppage time.
Dale had given away penalties to make it 8 penalties all but Davidson was awarded a yellow card when he went a tad offside. Leeds had ample phases in attack before they stretched the defence for Oliver Williams to touch down. Kit Keith landed the conversion.
Wharfedale went down to 13 men 2 minutes into the second half after a tackle in dale’s 22. The AR just said that the defender got his head on the wrong side of a tackle; the Leeds forwards were calling for a Red Card, oh for a video review. Hedgley, when he had recovered from the shoulder to his nose, was shown yellow. There followed some superb Green Machine defence with Leeds forced to go through multiple phases. Leeds eventually capitalised with a converted try by Matt Burke. The decisions were not going Dale’s way. They seemed to have stemmed the tide when Leeds dropped the ball only for the AR to decide it was a Wharfedale knock-on. The Wharfedale protest led to a penalty and they scored from the resulting lineout.
Restored to 15 players Dale again dominated. Back came Wharfedale, with Leeds discipline again causing them problems, giving Dale good territory and possession. From a lineout on the Leeds 22 the ball was worked to midfield and then a bruising run by Jack Pinder was offloaded to Tom Beresford who crossed the whitewash for a converted try to take Dale back into the lead.
Harry Bullough’s second converted try gave the home side a 24-14 lead.
Adam Brown scored a converted try for Leeds; the only try that Leeds managed to score when the ref allowed Wharfedale to play with a full team. More yellow cards reduced Leeds to 14 but Dale to 13. Thomas Williams touched down for the Leeds winner and again Keith converted.
The faithful were all frustrated with the way the afternoon went. This was a wholehearted performance by the men wearing the Green and could well have resulted in Leeds second defeat of the season. There was nothing to choose between all the players when picking the Man of the Match as this was one occasion when all players played to their full potential. Bodies were put on the line time and time again as Dale showed that they could defend. This was not a dirty game and the faithful wondered why Dale had managed to amass 4 yellow cards during the match. But, who can argue with a referee that is being fast tracked to the top and is supposably a good communicator with the players. There was a penalty awarded roughly every two minutes with both sides being penalised equally.
Wharfedale: – Bullough; Viner, Verity, Cicognini, Prell (Hamilton 71); Davidson, Riddiough; Dickinson, Stockdale, Armstrong, Stockton, Hedgley (c), Baldwin, Pinder, Beresford.
Replacements not used: – Collinson, Huck, Heys, Kaup-Samuels.
The match photogrsaphs are available at https://www.flickr.com/photos/128183691@N04/albums/72177720323722474/