Credit to all the players for trying to play some good rugby in pretty poor conditions. The game was not a feast of open rugby and was dominated by mistakes from both sides which made for a stop start game. Credit also to the Blaydon defence for stopping Dale getting a bonus point 4th try.
The home side had a massive territorial advantage throughout the game with Blaydon only mounting one meaningful attack into Dale’s 22 and taking a penalty as reward.
There was a minute`s silence before the game to honour Chris Baker and June Wear, both long-time servants of the club.
The game started with a knock-on from the Blaydon kick-off and this was the first of many handling errors. This did give Blaydon a toe-hold in Dale territory but they could not capitalise. A long kick from the returning Tom Davidson pinned Blaydon back in their 22. Dale opened their account with a Robbie Davidson penalty after 15 minutes which was scant reward for the possession they had had.
The Blaydon restart was collected safely and passed to Tom Davidson who sent play deep into Blaydon’s half. Blaydon won the line but spilled the ball to give Dale an attacking scrum. More pressure followed without crossing the line. Eventually the pressure told and from a line-out the forwards drove over with Matt Speres being awarded the score. Robbie Davidson missed the conversion.
Josh Walters scored Dale’s second after good work from the forwards from another attacking 5-metre line-out. Davidson added the extras to give Dale a 15-0 lead at half-time. The first half ended with Dale again back with a 5-metre line-out but this could not be executed properly and Blaydon gave themselves a pat on the back for keeping the score to only 15 points.
The second-half opened with a mistake from Blaydon and Dale again pressing in Blaydon’s 22. With a scrum penalty advantage Dale moved the ball right and got close to the line. Another penalty was awarded for a high tackle on Sam Gaudie; quicksilver Gaudie tapped and had scored before the Blaydon defence realised what was happening. Davidson landed a superb conversion from wide out to the right and into the strong wind.
Dan Marshall kicked a penalty for Blaydon to put them on the scoreboard and to finish the scoring.
Dale did create chances but could not get over the line. One of the best chances was a run by Matt Speres who got very close but Dale did not have the numbers in support to carry on the attack. Minutes later Henry Macnab split open the defence but again the chance to score was missed.
The Green Machine were in power mode in the scrum and gave a dominant performance winning turn over ball and quite a few penalties. There were moments of good play but far too many mistakes to build any momentum. Not the most enjoyable game to watch this season by a long way but a win is a win.
Wharfedale Bullough; R. Davidson, Coulton, Walters (Verity 59), Canny; T. Davidson, Gaudie (Macnab 59); Beesley (Altham 33), Speres (Beesley 66), Dickinson (Hirst 64), Stockton, Hedgley (c) (Green 50), Baldwin, Carlson, Burridge (c50).
Fabulous photos of yesterday’s 1st XV #Nat2N match against @blaydonrfcare available to view and download at https://www.flickr.com/photos/128183691@N04/albums/72177720305262819
Lower quality images can be found at https://www.facebook.com/groups/489145011182617
Thanks to Ro and John Burridge!