On a bleak autumn afternoon in the leafy suburbs of Moortown, 15 Dalesmen met to continue their campaign in the Merit League. Our hardy souls scaled the slopes and made their way to a wood-surrounded clearing to face very abrasive opponents.
Playing with the slope, the Greens’ youthful exuberance soon saw Beau Verity crossing for a try and then kicking the conversion. Ever-present Luke Craven barged his way over next, but this try was not converted. Just before half-time skipper Beer added his name to the scoresheet with Verity once more adding the conversion. 19-0 at half-time was a fair assessment of the difference in quality between the sides in the first half.
The second half was played in diminishing light, and the home side had a purple patch, scoring two well-deserved unconverted tries helped by too many infringements by the Greens. The game was sealed by a great converted try scored by Scott Rogers. His punching of the air showed what such a hard-fought victory meant to the Greens. Their management of Moortown’s robust approach to the encounter was a credit to all 15 players.