Wharfedale 10 - Sheffield 16

So on Saturday 30/09/17 we faced Wharfdale away. From previous visits to the ground we knew it was going to be a tough match and we would have to dig deep to beat them. As far as we can remember we haven’t won away at Wharfdale but with the fantastic start to the season, we knew we could do it.
From the off we knew it would be close and when they got a penalty in the first five minutes, we thought it was going to be a repeat from the past. But they missed their penalty and near enough straight from the penalty, they made a break but Ali Womack made a last ditch effort to stop them from getting in front early on in the game. Again Wharfdale attacked Sheffield’s defence which was helped by some big hits from Tom King and Ed Anglin but they managed to get through eventually and missed the conversion.
Around the 20 minute mark, Sheffield had our chance to get even with a lineout on their 5 metre mark but failed to take the advantage. Then later, near enough the same area of the pitch, we had a scrum which showed we could compete with them.
At 25 minutes Josh showed off his rucking ability by deciding to go up against one of the big forwards and then within the next minute, Sheffield had another lineout near the try line with good pressure from the pack. We then managed to get a penalty and Josh Leonard converted to make it 5-3.
Over the next 15 minutes Sheffield turned on the pressure which led to two more penalties. Josh was unlucky to get the first one which hit the posts and soon after had another but missed. Then from the restart Wharfdale made a break down the wing but Ed decided to put a stop to that by using every part of his body to save Sheffield from another try, great tackle and Kingy also took it upon himself to smash their centre and dislodge the ball to which TK picked it up and made one of his many runs in the game.

HALF TIME

Substitutions
Tobi, Sam, Dave and Watto -on
Tadgh, Kai, Ian and Sam - off

Early in the second half TK made another good run and offloaded it to Josh on his support but the ref claimed a forward pass. Sheffield maintained pressure on Wharfdale and led to a scrum when Sheffield showed them we were not going to be beaten up front and drove them back but Wharfdale managed to get a scrum on Sheffield’s 22. Then Whardale’s flanker got a yellow card which Josh took advantage of and with another kick the score was closing 10-9.
After the restart Fraser made a good tackle and JC and Tadgh made the turnover from it. Again Sheffield seemed confident with some strong runs by Jordan, Kingy TK and Tobi using their strength to get up the pitch. This helped Brad pass to Josh to make a break with support from Mitch and Ed but just fell short of the line. Then the forwards using some pick and goes and good running by Tobi moved closer to the line and then Ben with a dive what looked like Michael Jordan from space jam and Josh again converted it 10-16 to Sheffield.
After that Wharfdale were not going to give in and used their height to good effect by deciding to go for lineouts and mauls in our 22 and even managed to get near to Sheffield’s try line but some strong defence from the whole team absorbed the pressure and Tobi got his hands on the ball for the turnover and with a kick out in touch the game was ours.
Final score Wharfdale 10 – 16 Sheffield!
P.s great notes from Adam and also a great bus lead by Brad and Watto.

Report by JC