A high-scoring entertaining game of rugby was just edged by Preston Grasshoppers. Like last week, nobody would have argued if the scores had been tied, there were no real arguments that Hoppers took the full five points. Wharfedale fully deserved the two points for scoring 4 tries and finishing within 7 points of the opposition.

On a sunny day Wharfedale opened with some good rugby. The home side gave up possession and Jake Armstrong put them on the back foot with a surge down the middle. Jack Cherry then broke through the defence and found Brad Viner in support who ran in for Dale’s first try. Archie Haddon converted. Haddon added a penalty after more dominant play by Dale.

Preston then started to be given the ball when Dale kicked out of defence straight to one of their fast and effective backs. Twice in the next 15 minutes Dale kicked straight to a Hopper who used the broken field to mount an attack which ended with a try. Edward Keohane grabbed both scores; the first was converted by Sam Freeman. In between Dale kept the ball in hand and moved the ball into Preston’s 22 and a scrum penalty yielded three points.

Hoppers were using the high kick very effectively and when they fielded the restart launched a high up-and-under which caused confusion for the catchers and saw Jacob Browne break away from any cover and run in from 40 metres. Keohane added the extras. Preston now had the lead.

The lead was temporary as Dale soon struck back with a second try from Viner and another successful conversion by Haddon. The home side snuck back into the lead with the last kick of the half; a penalty by Keohane.

Dale started the second half with more concerted play and keeping the ball in hand. Nearly every scrum saw Dale being awarded a penalty and it was rare for Preston to be able to get the ball away quickly enough to avoid being driven backwards. Alfie Weston ran out of defence, and after many more dominant phases, Ollie Riddiough confounded the defence and, despite an attempted decapitation, opened the scoring in the second half with a converted try.

Dale’s set piece domination now moved to the line-out. First, they stole Preston’s line out and then, having been awarded two penalties, won the resulting line outs and were on the attack. A foray by Joe Fawcett was backed up by quick phases and then good hands ended with Sam Dickinson scoring Dale’s bonus point try, converted by Haddon, and establishing a 12- point lead.

The home side came back into the game by good direct running in the middle of the pitch; helped by indifferent tackling from the visitors. This led to a converted try by Billy Glover. Dale then seemed to be on the attack again and had a knock-on advantage on Preston’s 22. The ball was kicked away and the advantage lost especially when Preston’s clearance took Dale back into their own half. Some more strong running and weak defence allowed Louis Singleton to touch down for a converted try.

Another poor kick from Dale gave Hoppers’ possession and territory. They were patient in attack and built through 15 phases and eventually created space for Ben Haigh to touch down. After another good clearance pushed Dale back into defence. Preston were awarded a penalty which Keohane converted to take Preston into a 12-point lead. This meant that they had scored 24 unanswered points.

Poor kicks were not the preserve of Dale and Preston were guilty late in the game to hand Dale possession and good territory. They won numerous penalties, each time going for a line-out in the corner. Eventually the pressure meant that all the Preston players were pulled in to the left of the posts and a simple cross-kick was caught by Viner who touched down for his third try. Simple, but accurate and effective.

Wharfedale Haddon; Weston (Kaup-Samuels 64), Cherry, Cicognini (W. Bell 40), Viner; M. Bell, O. Riddiough; Dickinson (Armstrong 74), Stockdale (Wills 74), Armstrong (Ward 62), Heys, Borrill, Tweedale (Beecroft 57), Fawcett, Hedgley (c)